#And now I'm technically back to Maya

[sege-h]

Speaking of being insane over Gurren Lagann

I've had my tumblr long enough that there's posts like this of not-long-after-high-school Sege going thru it and coping the only way I knew how

[pitter-patt-art]

Ace Attorney AU August (halfway progress update!)

Okay technically it's the 16th (lol, 17th by the time this is done) so a little over halfway actually, but still I thought since I haven't had anything finished to post the past few days this would be a fun alternative!

I've been going a little nuts (affectionate) over @augustwritingchallenge's AU-gust prompts list this year so August has been a wild ride (about 40k words of one, in fact. so far.) but seeing as I will get attached to even the jokiest of AU ideas instantly, I've completed* a whopping 5 whole fics of 16, lol. Considering the shortest of those is over 3k and the longest is over 12k, I think the problem with not finishing these in a timely manner is entirely on my verbose foolish thick skull, haha, but I'm still having a blast with it.

Here is my ao3 series where I'm posting!

And a rundown / progress report / quick teaser of all the AUs including those I've yet to finish, if anyone's interested:

(*by "completed" I should note two of the already posted fics are basically assuredly going to be continued past the challenge, but let's say "completed enough to post and be on theme")

1. Canon Divergence - complete - 4.5k words ("For the Murder of Mr. Wrong" link)

Mia POV, gen. What if Dahlia succeeded in poisoning Phoenix and framed Doug Swallow instead (and then Mia defended him in court)? Basically a 3-1 rewrite. Fun Fact: I only came up with this AU because before I even remembered AU-gust existed at all, I'd come up with like 4 totally separate AUs in which I poison Phoenix in various ways With Real Consequences because it amuses me, lol, but he survives all those other ones and I eventually realized I hadn't even considered straight up killing him off yet so I figured I should try it at least once, haha.

2. Colorless - complete 1st chapter - 3.2k words ("Grey Matters" link)

Phoenix POV (for 1st ch --prob alternating after), wrightworth. "You can't see color until the first time you touch your soulmate"-soulmate AU. 1st chapter is their first meeting as kids (skipping the class trial itself). Fun Fact(s): I really love a color soulmate AU! Big fan of the "only see the color of their eyes" type of one too but uhhh on top of that working better for things that have wild anime eye colors, you could not pay me enough to try to figure out what the HELL is going on with Ace Attorney eye colors at any given time lmfao. (Also--spoilers for what i haven't written yet but hey if you're here you earned it--this IS one of my very many "teehee what if i poison Phoenix just a smidge as a treat for me" fics. NOT my fault the man ATE GLASS. That's on him.)

3. Dark Academia - complete "1st chapter" - 4.4k words ("The Spirit of the Laws of Magic" link)

Mia POV, lanamia. Magical boarding school setting featuring corruption and missing-student conspiracies and a most likely overthought system of magic with hierarchies and prejudices in societal views of academic/formulaic vs folk/innate magic. Fun Fact: I really thought for SURE i was going to skip this day entirely, lol. (foolish.) I don't think i've actually ever personally read anything "dark academia", technically--so if this doesn't read EXACTLY that way, there you go, but i did my best. I also then thought I could live with keeping this vague but I accidentally thought about it too long so... plus at least two people on top of myself at this point have expressed interest in more of this and so I have some semi-concrete Plans™ now.

4. Zombie Apocalypse - conceptualized (but not started)

Concept: probably gen and Phoenix POV, but also because I'm me and they're them, at least a little bit wrightworth even if it isn't necessarily explicit in any meaningful way bc they are Not Normal about each other lol. A little sketchy on how much of an "AU" this counts for, since it could probably be argued to be canon compliant somehow, but basically just: Universe where they make a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies-type Steel Samurai reboot movie thing (featuring, you guessed it, zombies), and Miles comes over and forces Phoenix to watch it with him just to have someone to bitch about it at, and then during that time Maya blows her way into Phoenix's apartment as well with the exact same intentions except her "day job" isn't quite as time-sensitive-strict so she's already finished watching it earlier and knows all the spoilers. Honestly a good chance Phoenix and Pearl (who came with Maya) end up hiding out in the kitchen together to let Maya and Miles rile each other up in front of the TV, but I'm never exactly sure where they'll take me once I wind them up and set them loose on the page, so who knows. I also hadn't necessarily determined the exact time frame yet but for it to make sense as a reboot-type movie/special episode/whatever it probably should be 7yg-or-later so Trucy may or may not be there as well. (That said, in my struggles to complete an actually short one-shot, I probably shouldn't even include Pearl let alone Trucy, lol.) Fun Fact: I also thought I'd skip this day bc I'm not the biggest zombie guy in the world, and to be fair, I managed to do Way Less with it than the dark academia prompt so, yippie?

5. Chess Players - incomplete (currently 3k word WIP)

Miles POV, wrightworth. Miles is a chess grandmaster and back in Japanifornia for the upcoming world cup tournament, but his greatest challenge is actually to FINALLY best Franziska in their annual who-can-get-the-best-Christmas-gift competition. Luckily, he just so happened to hear of an artist who makes bespoke chess sets, so the plan is to get a custom board made for Franziska without her finding out. The plan is not to get trapped in a weird art collective labyrinth with some model-photographer named Cindy who keeps hitting on him but also happens to be protective of the artist he's there to see because "she and her boyfriend kinda-sorta owe him big time", but this is what he gets for coming here without doing any extra research into the artist besides seeing his work and hearing only "his name is White, or, eh, something like that, you know how those artist types are" from Mr. Amano. (AU where we replace law with chess and no I don't think Phoenix could necessarily hack it in the top-world-grandmasters-level of chess tournaments HOWEVER have you considered he DID go to art school so what if he just tries selling custom chess sets until somehow that reconnects him with Miles. Is that somehow a more insane plan than studying law? Maybe. Did Manfred still shoot Gregory but now it was over fucking chess? Maybe. Idk. But I did let Greg live this time at least!) Fun Fact: we can all DEFINITIVELY blame my lovely, terrible, very wonderful friend Ben (shameless friend plug! she's an outstanding writer and has some AA fics of her own too!! @kindlystrawberry on tumblr!!) for making a total joke about "well what about au where they make chess pieces instead" while i lamented not knowing enough about chess to write an actual match and spawning this ENTIRE concept. It is her fault. 100%. She is the guilty party. (I want to finish this one VERY BADLY. Save me.)

EVIDENCE!!!!! Guilty.

6. Reality Show - incomplete (currently 700 word WIP)

Phoenix (& Franziska) POV(s), background wrightworth wedding planning going on as set up but it's also definitely just one of my many excuses to set Phoenix and Franziska up as bitchy worsties who can't admit they enjoy each other's company and will cut you down if you suggest it as such. So far I've only written the quote "set-up" section which is in Phoenix's POV, but that was SUPPOSED to be like 5 paragraphs and cut away and then lead into my actual plan for the main body, which was to be in Franz's instead, so. This is very similar to the zombie one in that it's them watching reality tv instead of being contestants on a show (I don't personally like or watch a lot of reality tv so my creative well was somewhat dry on how to make that work) and then I accidentally thought about Phoenix and Franziska watching something just to judge and tear apart the decisions of every person on it and that was too fun to not consider further, haha. Basically the plan is just they get left alone together and don't know what to do with that and end up wine-drunk and making fun of some reality dating show of some kind and Miles and Trucy come back to them losing it together over something stupid and are like "......uh. what's happening." Fun Facts: I really love the thought experiment of Franziska somehow discovering how often Phoenix's internal dialogue/reads on situations and especially people can be So Bitchy And Judgey despite his affable complexion, and her unfortunately finding his opinions to SOMETIMES be somehow slightly okay. Moderately correct, even--occasionally. I know the section she follows you-as-Phoenix around in T&T is really not long at ALL, but I adore it. There's something about it that so badly makes me want to force them into proximity more (to both their chagrin, I'm sure).

7. Farm/Ranch - complete - 12k words ("Two Little Dickey Byrdes" link)

Gumshoe POV, gumbyrde (tho i still think dickeybyrde is a funnier ship name). 5+1 things--except more like maybe 7-or-8+1 to be honest--so it's more: over 5 times Dick and Maggey sit on a wall together and 1 time they find someone else there instead. AKA: Dick runs his family's small farm (think fantasy farm like in a farming sim or maybe horse girl novel type of thing that has nothing to do with what a real farm is like lol don't worry about it) and Maggey starts working at the next farm over as the latest of her many odd jobs. Fun Fact: oh god this one got so far away from me. it was not supposed to be this long lmao. it's literally the elaborate set-up to a very silly Nursery-Rhyme-I-Didn't-Even-Know-About-Prior-To-This -based punchline!?! still, i was pleasantly surprised by how happy i was with this once it was done... two sittings and about 16 total hours later. haha).

8. Nomad - incomplete (planned/outlined)

Apollo (or possibly Klavier) POV, klapollo. Sort of Jove-Thalassa swap adjacent, but basically: AU where Jove survives the Khura'in fire but loses his memories for [contrived convince sake reasons]. (And also possibly loses some or all of his eyesight just to really go for the parallels?) Therefore: Jove and Apollo stay with Dhurke and Nahyuta and the Defiant Dragons for a time, while Jove recovers, but eventually they leave and head out on their own, just the two of them, and do the traveling musician thing, both because it's dangerous in Khura'in and Dhurke already canonically didn't want Apollo to get caught up in it and potentially get hurt to begin with and because with a functioning actual parent Apollo doesn't need to be taken in by him--and also Jove from what little we know seems like he prefers to be on the move and was already a world traveler anyhow, so even amnesiac maybe he gets a little antsy stuck in one place too long. And so like amnesiac Thalassa, Jove thusly becoming a renowned mysterious musician--and then Apollo, sweet tone deaf Apollo, becoming the sonager of all time (like a momager but...you get it) because he's not that into music but he IS into arguing for better conditions/making deals (contracts!! international legalese!! woohoo!!) with venues and promoters and stuff. And then--oops dang Lamioir still exists and now they have a meet-cute (2 electric bugaloo) (but by then it's later enough Trucy still exists because it will be a cold day in hell when I don't find a way to make her work) and they do music collabs or join up to form a group or whatever and OOPS this means now that Apollo and Jove are with Lamioir when The Gavinners / Klavier specifically meet her and get her to come to do the Guitar's Serenade concert eventually. And Apollo and Klavier ofc thusly also have a meet-cute and then talk and bond etc etc. AND THEN the au STOPS THERE and I DON'T think about how without Apollo Phoenix is totally getting convicted of Zak's murder because there's no way that trial works out as well for him with some other attorney and I also don't think about how reasonable it would then be that maybe Trucy ends up helping Valant with his work setting up the trick for the concert afterward on account of the one father in prison and the other being dead and having left behind a notarized confession clearing Valant's name of suspicion, etc. AND I DEFINITELY do not think about how i could then still so easily get everyone in one place at the concert for Turnabout Serenade and/or any possible funny Sibling (And Thalassa) Reveal that could happen i dont i dont i do not--

9. Accidental Baby Acquisition - conceptualized (not started)

Gen, possibly my weakest / least defined idea on this list, but basically: Phoenix kind of already lives this in canon, lol (insomuch as an 8yo counts as a baby) so I thought, well, how to take it a different direction, then? And I thought, I don't usually go for a Phoenix Fey kind of au because I personally really love the relationships he has with all the Feys as-is in canon and so it's not quite as funny to me as, say, a Miles Fey AU where like Misty and Gregory are married, or any of the ones in that bent, because I'm sorry but that's just SO funny (and sad, but mostly funny) any way you slice it--plus his NAME is RIGHT THERE mia-miles-maya he FITS--anyhow, that completely aside, there are just a lot of reasons I really love the platonic relationships the Feys already have with Phoenix and I don't think it NEEDS to be made specifically familial to still be so very important, y'know? BUT. That said. AU where Phoenix is idk abandoned as a baby or maybe his parents die young or something and it's like a Thing to leave babies at temples or churches or whatever, right? So like--Phoenix adopted by the Feys AU but only because the more i considered it the more i thought it would be WILD for him to literally know Maya her entire life, and it's fascinating to me to consider a Maya who ISN'T basically left all alone to her own devices (and Morgan's) and who has someone absolutely in her corner in the village the entire time even after Mia leaves (who isn't a baby when Mia leaves, love you tho Pearls), AND also and perhaps more importantly, the ships-passing-in-the-night-ness of a scene where, like: Morgan does something sketchy or whatever and Phoenix wants to keep Mia updated but for whatever reason decides to go down to the city and actually tell her in person and so he's waiting outside the courthouse or something (possibly part of or perhaps Most Of the reason he goes in person is because he knows her first courtroom trial is that day and he wants to see her + hear how it went) and when he gets there she's in a heated argument with some asshole in a fancy over-embellished jacket and once that guy leaves Phoenix is like "Sheesh, what's his problem?" You know???? And maybe he really would never even know!!!! Bc he grew up in Kurain!!!! And has no reason to care!!! About some random prosecutor who was mean to Mia!! Aaaah!!! So that, and on top of that, Diego would be there too ofc at that point, and I feel like he would ALSO be quite a funny interaction in this scenario. ("Wow, someone's popular, kitten, you have all sorts of guys waiting on a chance to talk to you, heh?" "Uh.--I'm sorry, WHAT did you just call her")

10. Enemies-to-Allies - incomplete (currently 370 word WIP)

Ema POV, faraskye. Cyberpunk AU where Lana is still under Gant's thumb and Ema, with no other way to stay close to her and getting rejected from any of the sorts of jobs she really wants to do, decides to just join the security force (or cyber police or w/e I decide to call it) and is tasked with hunting down the Yatagarasu, guerilla hacker supreme who is threatening the sanctity of the capitalist overlords. Except Ema's squad gets ambushed and she's captured and tied to a pole, and with her useless fop partner seemingly not coming to rescue her (if he even noticed her absence), she does some quick cost-benefit analysis and decides she didn't really like that job anyway and maybe there's another way she can get her sister back in her life. So she breaks free of her own handcuffs (which she definitely didn't modify into incidental ineffectiveness she's still testing for bugs) and helps fix the "Little Thief" device her captor seems to have broken despite how obviously valuable and impressive the tech is, and they eventually come to something of an agreement. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and all that. Either Ema as the hardware-engineer one and Kay as the software-programming one as the two sides of the tech coin, or else Kay can just be like doing the physical sneaking kind of spy stuff only--or maybe she knows a little about software but not so much she's a pro the way she is with infiltration and such. Possibly toying with the idea Kay herself is just completely an android, but if not, I think she has some cybernetic cyborg things going on regardless. Possibly from or inspired by her father? I also like the idea that Gant did something maybe more drastic with regards to having dirt on Ema to get Lana to do his bidding--like maybe Ema has a whole cybernetic hand because instead of just her handprint on a leather jacket, Gant has some sicko jar with her entire hand in it in his office safe, or something. I don't know why this would be useful to him but it is certainly an image. I also find it funny if Miss Fingerprint Powder Enthusiast doesn't actually have any fingerprints of her own anymore somehow in this AU, lol.

11. Retail Worker - complete - 6.7k words ("The Bake Anything Boulangerie" link)

Apollo POV, gen. Phoenix gets a job at a bakery instead of the Borscht Bowl Club during the 7 year gap, and Apollo happens to stumble across it and ends up meeting the Wrights while he's still in high school. He becomes a regular at the bakery and is already close to them by the time "Shadi Smith's" murder comes around. And also, yes, sibling reveal right away--at least as soon as Phoenix realizes and can reveal it. As a treat. (Other reveals, though, I might put poor Apollo through on a delayed basis. Also as a treat, lmao, just not one for him.) Fun Fact: I'm being redundant bc this is also in my a/n, but, Baker Phoenix lives rent-free in my brain because Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright was in fact the very first Ace Attorney game I ever played, technically, and Maya and Phoenix semi-brainwashed in that bakery was literally one of my first impressions of them. ........followed immediately by starting a let's play of Justice for All (which i watched through the first case, after which I was like oKAY fine maybe i DO need more context here, i should probably figure out what the actual first game is, and went back to start the series properly at the beginning hahaha). What do you MEAN i have a disproportionate fascination with amnesiac Phoenix, even if I have yet to finish and publish one of my myriad AUs that utilize stupid, unrealistic, plot convenient re-temporary amnesia?? Hm???? Idk what you're talking about. Also everyone who complains about 2-1 is wrong lmao it's objectively (okay subjectively is what i'm saying yes BUT objectively) such a funny place to start without knowing broad plot strokes, it's great. I both knew so much and absolutely shit-all nothing about Maya after PLvPW and 2-1, LMAO. god.

12. Animagus Wings (Joker) - incomplete (planned/outlined)

Miles POV, wrightworth. Angel/Demon AU, except I'm playing super fast and loose with the rules on that because all my knowledge of Christian-mythos comes from firstly and unknowingly the Chronicles of Narnia and more recently and cognizantly Lucifer (Netflix) and Good Omens. I know that's probably more or less what we're all doing with this kind of AU but still, I'm not even sure I want to refer to Heaven and Hell here, I'm kinda on the fence about maybe just keeping it all very vague? I also accidentally semi-worldbuilt more than i intended incidentally on account of "But Then How-Why Names If Angelic Creatures?" Format-wise it would semi-follow gomens s1 where it's hopping through some meetings between long stretches but also a kind of pre- and post- Fall type of thing? And potentially à la Lucifer becoming, like, these are My Mortal Humans and i will be Spending Time With Them, screw you celestial duties, I'm making my own Free Will, etc. And i mean i guess Lucifer is also a crime procedural lmao maybe they still solve crimes in the end too. Fun Fact: I didn't want to do the original prompt for several reasons, and sure fuck jkr is one of them but even before I knew about her I still wasn't really the biggest hp person in the first place? So i wouldn't know/don't remember at all the way it works without having to do the specific research and i...don't want to haha. Hence. And I know the prompt seems to be using it loosely / might just be borrowing the word and not actually referencing hp specifically but tbh either way human-animal shifter things just in general I can be somewhat picky about haha. (Okay okay plus full disclosure the ONLY idea I have for this sort of thing actually ties into my day-3-dark-academia-extended-au-verse and i COULD make my life simpler by just connecting the two days but Heh who would I be if I simplified things for myself... *sigh*) All that to say: I saw "wings" on the wild card list and I thought, ooh, well that's still sort of a related concept! Let's tag that one in! So it's still kind of day 12 prompt-adjacent, if you squint.

13. Found Footage - incomplete (planned/outlined)

Video Transcript POV? Is that a thing? Possibly capped by a little Phoenix POV (but i don't want that to get too long), wrightworth. Larry's new girlfriend of the month bakes weed brownies and Larry does not realize this and swings by the Wrights' apartment to beg some kind of help off Phoenix and forgets the whole tray there somehow (because it's Larry) and they leave to deal with Larry's thing and by the time they figure the brownies out, in some twist of fate Miles and Trucy have been hanging out (last minute babysitter/adult supervision? but she's at the very very least 14 or 15 here and most likely older, and Nick clearly isn't the most strict about like uhhh supervision in general lol sooo idk. he's helping her with a project or smth. it doesn't really actually matter; he's THERE, that's the important thing.) The point I'm very clearly getting at is they accidentally get incredibly high (not dangerously so because I'm not going that far haha but also, neither of them has actually been high before, so they are Affected) before Phoenix finds out what was in the brownies and tries to warn Trucy and hurry home to like, dispose of them or at least put a warning label on them or whatever, but he is too late lol. By a lot. Definitely an underage drugs tag on this bad boy because it's definitely sometime 18-or-earlier for Trucy, let alone 21. (idk about other places but as a Californian I can tell you Japanifornia "LA" could theoretically have it legalized at 21 for anyone (like alcohol) and 18 with Dr's permission--which Trucy definitely does not have in this AU lol.) Basically, Phoenix grabs Trucy's phone to get photo evidence so he can let them never live this down (after making sure they're okay lmao), but he ofc doesn't get technology so he doesn't realize he leaves the phone still recording when Trucy asks him for something / needs his help, so the recording just keeps going and captures a lot of tomfoolery and eventually some inebriated-to-Extremely-sober Feelings-Adjacent confessions (or maybe more like allusions). Idk, this was actually a fic I thought of before August and wanted to use as an excuse to try a Weird Format for fun, but then i saw this was a prompt on the list and...well. Fun Fact: Cannabis was legalized in California on November 8, 2016 (the first election I could vote in!!! ......uh, rip. lol. but yeah babey I helped legalize weed at least!! gotta remember the positives), which means it was legal right in time for Miles' case(s) / Turnabout Goodbyes!!! Yay!! I mean, I suppose that's genuinely seriously one way to try to mitigate nightmares and manage insomnia--not that I think Miles Edgeworth would ever deign stoop so low as to use an aid to manage his severe PTSD and trauma symptoms, psshaw, who do you take him for? (Get these people some help lol. They all need so much therapy.)

14. Princes & Princesses - conceptualized (not started)

So I've been reading a lot (a LOT) of isekai and/or revenge reincarnation romance fantasy manhwas lately (like, oh, too many, hahaha. they're quite good and they're VERY popular in webcomics at the moment.) Soooo. Soft pitch: Apollo already gets slapped into so many wild backstories he's constantly trying to dodge in an effort to be just a Normal Guy, he's honestly, like, the PERFECT protagonist for one of these lmao. And tell me Kristoph doesn't make a perfect "Upstanding Duke" kind of persona, and Klavier couldn't be the "wild rake" younger brother no one expects much from, and all I'm saying is it wouldn't be that hard to contrive a reason Apollo tries to get Klavier to agree to a contract marriage the way all these stories go, lol. And also, something something, Apollo from the "real world" is an orphan/has an absent family (also like so many of these manhwa protagonists, lol) but then he gets to actually have one in his second life!! I'm such a sucker for that shit. Slightly harder pitch, and the reason I did not let myself actually start writing anything (...yet): so what if the actual plot of the "original romance novel" Apollo is familiar with from the "real world (Earth)" is actually about the slightly older generation and something something instead of admiring Phoenix as a defense attorney, it's just that he instead was Apollo's favorite "love interest" character (not, like, for himself, just the one he most liked to read about) in every way except what a blithering idiot he became when the author had him fall for the female lead--but BEFORE that, he's a cool information guild leader guy who seems like he's trying to work toward some way to improve conditions for commoners in the kingdom (but abruptly there are no more mentions of this after he gets involved with the lead, which is annoying). Aaaand... I guess what I'm saying is, Dahlia is the original female lead because she REALLY fits the whole White Lotus trope, and I'm thinking Klavier is the original male lead because A) hilarious, B) fits in with the idea there's more going on in the ACTUAL world Apollo ends up in that is written in such a way as to make things seem different in the novel (like, that Dahlia and Klavier are actually as nice as they seem and that the terrible things that happen around them are just the trials and tribulations of being main characters and not anything they're directly involved in). And Apollo, the character in the novel Apollo, is an adopted prince of Khura'in, but he's the sickly younger prince and of course not actually of the royal bloodline (and also a man, considering Khura'in is matrilineal), so Rayfa and Nahyuta are the ones the public and other nobles actually know and care about and deal with. But wait! As it so turns out, The Wright Anything Information Guild (I feel like the actual guild name CAN'T have their freaking name on it front and center lol but you get the idea) happens to know some other things that aren't really expanded on in the original novel, and might be key to preventing Apollo's death so he doesn't follow the path of the original story, and also idk maybe Apollo and Trucy are half-fae or something like that and instead of like Aw Yay Bracelet in this AU it's more of a secret Iron Shackle Tool That Will Hurt I Mean Totally-Definitely-Help Us Later (still, in a way, passed down to him by Thalassa, but more as, like... she's kind of a secret hostage and does not manage to hide pregnancy number one so Apollo's now also a secret hostage, but she manages to escape so they don't know about Trucy, only she didn't tell Apollo basically anything to "keep him as safe as possible" or w/e, and......) Well, anyway. It got away from me before I even really wrote anything, that's all.

15. Secretly Alien - unfinished (currently 2.6k WIP)

Trucy POV, gen. Apollo gets sick of very consistently always losing the card games they play at the Wright Anything Agency (usually and in the specific instance the fic starts, Bullshit/BS) and in a stroke of inspiration somehow ropes everyone into playing Among Us instead. ("What! It's still a game of trying to lie/trick everyone else--like you like!--but I actually stand a freaking chance, so we're playing this or I'm going home.") Yes. This is my Among Us AU. Hi. They play Among Us. I'm justifying this one as prime AU territory however because A) Among Us has to exist in this universe, and even more pressingly, B) I found a way to force Phoenix to have--for at least a period of time if not moving forward in perpetuity--an actual smartphone instead of a Nokia-type brick cellphone. Which even under the wild but somehow plausible considering Ace Attorney circumstances I contrived, is just automatically a complete AU lmao. Fun Fact: I am so mad this one wasn't just totally finished day-of, lol. Why I ever thought I could give myself run of an entire WAA 4-person conversation and NOT get instantly derailed is beyond me. (And I want to get the prosecutors there, too?? Someone take the characters away from me.) Anyway. No, I have not written ANY of the actual Among Us part yet. Sigh. Also I haven't personally played amogus since like, 2021? maybe? And I know (now) that it's been pretty updated since then, but, ehhh, I'm just gonna run off like, lockdown-era amogus rules and vibes, lol. If I can get to the game part.

16 - Hobby Drama - conceptualized

I'm going to go out of order this time to say: Fun Fact: I have ALWAYS wanted to write a Reddit-style fic!!! I absolutely love them and I've read some REALLY, really good ones, so I've always wanted to try my hand at it. So theoretically this is the perfect time to make that a reality and write a r/HobbyDrama subreddit fic, buuut I got stuck before starting because I'm torn on two possible routes to take it (I can easily foresee myself caving and just doing both lol). - Option 1: Steel Samurai fandom discourse, always a fun/funny thing to think about, definitely would enjoy having Maya and Miles post some stuff for that. - Option 2: courtroom law fandom discourse, because come ON, how are those galleries ALWAYS SO FULL. The little wiggling rabba-rabba onlookers have GOT to have investment in this shit. And why WOULDN'T they, honestly. I've seen those trials and I have, in fact, spent a Lot of time thinking about them, not that any posts I've made lately would reflect that in any way or anything. Like I know it's hard to tell, but if I can be invested in the Lawyers Fandom, who's to say the people in the courtrooms aren't????? And I LOVE an outsider POV fic actually, I think they're so fun. So anyway. Reddit fic. You will be mine. Just as soon as I can hone my energy

And, what the hell, since it's so late now by the time I complete this "Heh This'll Be So Quick To Throw Together" post, I'll include today's, too:

17 - Flower Shop - conceptualized (at work earlier today. lol)

AU where Daddy Hawthorne is like, 97% less shitty. And the Hawthornes have a flower shop instead of like a gemstone industry or whatever. And he takes both Dahlia and Iris with him instead of dumping one of his daughters at a fucking secluded mountain temple and seemingly forgetting about her forever. On second thought, maybe what I actually mean is he's like 999% less shitty, lmfao. Anyway, Iris POV, but Dahlia (while not a "nice" person by any stretch) is not pushed to such extremes or nearly as desperate as canon, so Valerie lives, Terry Fawles lives, Doug Swallow lives, and Dahlia gets to live a good life overall--because as much fun as I love using her as a villain, she's really such a product of the absolute worst circumstances and I really do find her interesting so I've been kind of wanting to explore her in a less cartoonishly evil light, haha. (Don't get me wrong, I do love the cartoonishly evil light too, but I like spicing things up sometimes.) Like, she does (more) normal teen rebellion things ("Look at my inappropriately older boyfriend, Dad" "I'm going to talk my way out of speeding tickets and petty shoplifting as a bid for attention" etc.) and she still totally orders Iris around and Iris still totally does whatever she asks very much to her own detriment and has to learn to break away and be her own person. Fun Fact: I have a very passionate love for Iris/Adrian Andrews. Is that. Um. Is that a ship anyone else has ever considered before? Is that just me? I'm not sure but very possibly I'll just make this a rarepair fic as a treat, for me alone, teehee. (Like... it's about the becoming the master of your own destiny it's about breaking out of codependent cycles it's about how I genuinely honestly think they'd be each other's type and have chemistry even though they've obviously never interacted lmao... idk what to tell you.)

AND THATS MY AU-GUST UPDATE POST!!!

If you made it this far, take a sprinkle of my undying affection, and may you be blessed with AU inspiration if you so desire it!! (If you do not desire it, hopefully you are not cursed with it. I do not take refunds if you are. Sorry.)

Wish me luck with completing some more fics soon!!! Unfortunately weekends are actually my least free time because I work the most and the earliest hours so I have less time and am more tired, but also on Wednesday I'm leaving for a family vacation, which will either be the BEST thing to happen in regards to AU-gust or the WORST thing lmfao. If nothing else I have 2 flights, and I actually Love writing on an airplane, so fingers crossed for it being Good. <3

EDIT: Now with part 2 for the rest of the month here!

[reidsbabyhoney]

second chances | s.r.

the one where Spence regrets everything that’s happened in the past six months.

pairing: spencer reid x bau!reader category: angst, fluff cw: none wc: 3.3k a/n: this took forever to write because every time i tried writing it i absolutely hated how it came out. i’m hoping i gave them the ending they deserved and that you all love it! also please let me know if there's any warnings I should add.

pt.1 masterlist spencer reid masterlist

The entire car ride home was a blur, and you mean that literally. The tears that coated your eyes never seemed to stop even after you arrived back home. The dull hum of the engine couldn't seem to drown out the noise-deafening pounding in your chest.

You couldn't help but replay every moment from tonight on a loop, the gut wrenching realization that Spencer moved on so quickly, so easily. It felt as if your entire world had been tilted on its axis and you were left to live in a reality that didn't make any sense.

Maya. You hadn't been able to look at her without a sharp pang of jealousy making its way though your chest. The way she spoke to Spencer, so casually, so possessively like you were going to take her from him at any second. But in reality that's what she did to you.

You told yourself that you were fine, that you had enough time to move on and get over that relationship, but its clear you were lying to yourself. Every moment you were in his presence were the few moments of bliss where you could pretend everything with him was normal.

You had loved him. You still did. The harsh truth of that might've hurt worse than tonight's events.

Once you finally arrived home you didn't bother to go inside right away. Turning off the car you sit staring at the dashboard, trying to ground yourself in something, anything but the whirlwind of emotions going on in your mind right now.

As your about to open the door, your phone buzzes in the passenger seat. Picking it up you see it's a message from Penelope.

From: Penny

Are you okay, sweetheart? If you need anything I'm just a phone call away. Please don't let his stupidity ruin your night, we all know how much of an amazing person you are!

A small smile painted its way across your features, though drained and not very genuine.

You quickly texted her back letting her know you were okay and just needed some time to process everything. With that you finally got out of the car making your way inside, preparing for another sleepless night.

-

You had taken the day off. Well technically you didn't request it, it was given to you by Hotch. The team had just gotten back from a long gruesome case and he decided that everyone needed some time to decompress.

It had been a couple weeks since 'The Incident' as Emily has so kindly labeled it. Since then the unkind thoughts hadn't left your mind.

You spent most of the day curled up on the couch barely able to focus on the movies playing on the TV. Your mind was a storm of thoughts that blossomed from that night, though not into flowers, more so like weeds that didn't want to fully be pulled from the ground.

You replayed every word he said that night. Every glance, subtle expression. There was no warmth in his tone, nothing that suggested the gentle, awkward genius who had found solace in your presence.

You knew it hurt, but what hurt more was the realization that Spencer wasn't the only thing you lost that night. You were mourning the loss of what had been,  what could've been.

-

The next morning, you showed up at the office. The decision half-hearted, debating on requesting for another day out of the crowded space. You're not sure what you were expecting, for something to just change overnight, or if you needed to prove to yourself that you could handle it.

You walked in to see the team gathered around the bullpen. Derek was leaning against the counter, talking animatedly to JJ, while Penelope was chattering away in her usual high-energy manner. They all seemed fine, but you knew they could feel your emotions. You had always worn them on your sleeve, and the team was nothing if not perceptive.

And Spencer? He was nowhere to be found.

Your heart dropped, but you quickly masked the disappointment with a neutral expression. You couldn’t allow yourself to think about him right now, not with everything else going on.

As you slid into your chair, you could feel their eyes on you every now and then, but none of them dared to speak up. It was only when the elevator doors opened that you saw Spencer walking toward the bullpen. His usual awkward stride was missing, replaced by something… hesitant. His eyes briefly met yours, but instead of the usual spark of familiarity, there was something different. Something strained.

He was carrying a large coffee cup in his hand, but it seemed like he was just holding it for the sake of holding it.

“y/n,” he said softly, his voice laced with the same uncertainty that had been present in his eyes. You barely met his gaze, your stomach doing somersaults at the sight of him.

“Spence,” you said, offering a forced smile. You couldn’t help but feel a pang of longing, but you couldn’t let yourself show it.

“I, uh, can we talk?” he asked, his words tumbling out in that way that was so quintessentially Spencer.

Your gaze flickered around the room, but you didn’t want to make a scene. “Now’s not the best time.”

He nodded, but you could see the disappointment in his face. He hesitated for a moment before turning away and heading to his own desk. You didn’t watch him go, how could you?

-

Hours passed, and the tension between you and Spencer lingered like a heavy fog. Every now and then, you caught his eyes lingering on you when he thought you weren’t looking, but every time you met his gaze, he looked away.

You were exhausted. Your mind was scattered. And when you finally gathered the courage to step away from your desk to grab a coffee, it was then that Spencer decided to approach you.

“y/n,” he called out gently, his voice softer now, less urgent.

You paused mid-step, not sure how to respond. His presence was overwhelming, and even though you wanted to retreat, you knew you couldn’t keep avoiding him forever.

Turning around slowly, you nodded. “Spencer.”

“Can we talk?” he asked again, this time with more sincerity in his voice.

You studied him carefully, unsure whether you could trust yourself to keep calm. “Do we really need to? I think we’ve said everything we need to say.”

“No,” he replied, shaking his head. “I don’t think we have. At least not yet.” He paused, looking down at his feet. “Please.”

You could hear the desperation in his voice, and for the first time since that night, you allowed yourself to truly look at him. You didn’t know what had changed, but you knew it was something important. You had loved Spencer for so long, and maybe it was time to let him explain himself.

“Alright,” you finally said, your voice barely above a whisper. “Let’s talk.”

-

The conference room door clicked shut behind you, and for a brief moment, you felt like you were trapped. The silence was thick, oppressive. Spencer stood by the window, facing away from you, his shoulders tense, his hands hanging stiffly at his sides. He didn’t move, didn’t speak. The space between you felt impossibly wide, like an ocean stretching between two distant shores.

You wanted to scream. To demand answers. To ask why. But you couldn’t, because the truth was, you were too scared of what might come next. The flood of emotions coursing through you felt like too much to bear. And the pain? The pain was undying.

Finally, Spencer spoke, but his voice was soft, almost trembling. “I never meant to hurt you,” he said, his words breaking the stillness in the room, but they did little to ease the ache in your chest.

He turned slowly, his eyes dropping to the floor as if he couldn’t bear to look at you. “I’m so sorry. For the way I ended things... for pushing you away.”

His gaze finally met yours, but there was no spark there, no warmth. Just an empty, hollow ache, the same one you felt. The distance between you both was palpable.

“I thought I was doing the right thing,” he continued, his voice barely above a whisper. “I thought I was protecting you. I thought I was giving you space to breathe… to move on. To get away from the chaos that’s always been a part of my life.”

The words struck you like a punch to the gut. Protecting you? Was that what this was? Did he think he was being noble by choosing to shut you out?

“You pushed me away, Spencer,” you said, your voice trembling with the rawness of everything you were holding in. “I didn’t ask for space. I didn’t ask for you to shut me out. I was here… I've always been here.” The anger, the hurt, it all poured out of you, and you couldn’t stop it even if you tried. “I just needed you to be honest with me. To tell me the truth, not hide behind your fears.”

His face faltered at your words, and for a moment, he looked like he might crumble under the weight of your pain. “I was scared,” he admitted, his voice breaking as if he hadn’t even meant to say it. “I was scared that if I kept you close, I would ruin everything. That I’d hurt you more. I thought if I pulled away, you’d be better off without me. But all I’ve done is hurt you even more.”

The truth of his words hit you like a wave, but it didn’t bring relief. Instead, it left you feeling raw, exposed. How could he think that? How could he think leaving was the solution? You had been through so much together. But the thought of him choosing to walk away, of him choosing her, it crushed you.

“I don’t know if I can forgive you, Spencer,” you whispered, the tears you had been holding back threatening to spill over. Your heart was breaking, the weight of everything that had happened too much to carry anymore.

“You didn’t just break my heart… you broke me. I was waiting for you. I thought... I thought we could work through this. But you didn’t give me a chance. And now you’re asking me to just… what? To just forget?”

Spencer’s face crumpled as if your words were a physical blow, but he didn’t look away. He couldn’t. He was broken too, and for the first time, he looked vulnerable, scared even. “I don’t want you to forget,” he said, his voice shaking with emotion.

“I just want a chance. A chance to prove that I’m not that guy anymore. That I’m not the one who left you… that I’m the one who’s ready to fight for us.”

You shook your head, a sob escaping before you could stop it. “I don’t know if I can believe you anymore, Spencer. I don’t know if I can trust you after everything.”

He stepped forward, his hands trembling as they reached out toward you. “Please,” he whispered, desperation creeping into his voice. “I’ve spent every second of the last six months thinking about how much I screwed up, wishing I could go back and do things differently. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you.”

Your breath caught in your throat, and you could feel your heart pounding in your chest, erratic, unsure whether it was breaking or yearning for something—anything that might bring you peace. You knew Spencer had made mistakes, but he wasn’t the only one at fault. You had kept yourself at a distance too, not because you wanted to, but because you were terrified of what this might mean. Of what letting him back in might cost you.

“I’m scared, Spencer,” you whispered, your voice barely audible. “I’m scared that if I let you back in, you’ll leave again. That you’ll hurt me again.”

He closed the distance between you, standing just inches away now. You could see the unshed tears in his eyes, the way his face was etched with guilt and regret. He reached for your hand, but instead of pulling away, you let him. You let him hold you, as fragile as it felt, as broken as you both were in that moment.

“I won’t leave again,” he said softly, his voice thick with emotion. “I swear. I’ll fight for you. For us. I’ll fight for as long as it takes.”

The raw honesty in his voice, his words full of pain, of hope. It made something inside you snap. The walls you had built around your heart were crumbling, piece by piece. You didn’t know if you could ever go back to the way things were, but maybe, just maybe, there was a chance for something new. Something better.

“I’m not asking for things to be perfect,” Spencer continued, his thumb brushing over the back of your hand, the small touch making your pulse race. “I just need you to know that I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.”

You met his gaze then, your eyes brimming with unshed tears, but this time they weren’t just born from hurt. There was something else there. Something like hope. “I’m not ready to forgive you yet, Spencer,” you said softly, your voice trembling. “But I’m willing to try. I’m willing to see where this goes. If you really mean it.”

His face softened, the tension easing just a fraction. “I do,” he whispered, his hand still gently holding yours. “I mean it. More than anything.”

And as he pulled you into his arms, you let yourself hold on, just for a moment. You weren’t sure where this would lead, or if you could ever truly forget the pain. But for the first time in a long while, you weren’t alone. And maybe that was enough.

-

It was one of those quiet mornings that felt like a small slice of heaven. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting a soft glow through the windows, and the only sound in the apartment was the rhythmic hum of the coffee maker.

The air was still cool from the night before, but the warmth of the morning sun slowly crept in, filling the room with a gentle golden light.

You were sitting at the kitchen table, your bare feet tucked under you, a mug of coffee warming your hands. Your hair was messy from sleep, but you didn’t mind.

You had gotten used to waking up next to Spencer every morning, and the sight of him, still half-asleep, a little rumpled, and incredibly endearing, was one of the small things you’d grown to cherish.

Spencer was at the counter, his glasses perched on the tip of his nose as he flipped through a pile of paperwork. The clutter of his case files and textbooks was a normal part of your life now, but the way he had rearranged things over the past few months, more neatly than ever before, was a quiet testament to how much he had changed. He wasn’t perfect, but he was working on it. He was trying, and that was all that mattered.

“Y/n?” Spencer’s voice broke the quiet, pulling your attention away from your thoughts.

You looked up from your coffee, meeting his soft brown eyes. He was still wearing his sleep-filled smile, the one that only appeared after a good night’s sleep, when he wasn’t overthinking or buried under a pile of cases.

“I was wondering… would you mind helping me with something later?” His voice was tentative, but there was something else there now, something more confident. He wasn’t afraid to ask for help anymore.

You’d noticed that shift in him over the past few months, the way he wasn’t afraid to lean on you, to let you in when before he would have kept his distance. It had taken time, but now, when he needed you, he knew how to reach for you without hesitation.

“Of course,” you said with a smile, your heart swelling at how far you’d come since that difficult conversation. “What do you need help with?”

Spencer hesitated for just a moment, glancing down at the paperwork. His fingers hovered over the pile, as though unsure how to ask. “I’m working on this case… and I just need to go over the details. I know you’ve got that… special way of seeing things,” he said with a playful grin, using the affectionate nickname you’d earned after countless cases where your instincts had been spot on. “You’re better at spotting the details than I am.”

You raised an eyebrow at him, playfully teasing. “Oh, so now I’m the expert, huh? I thought you were the genius here.”

Spencer’s smile widened, and he shook his head, walking over to the table and taking a seat across from you. He didn’t even try to hide the fondness in his gaze as he looked at you. “You are the expert,” he said softly. “And I’m just the guy who gets to learn from you every day.”

The words lingered between you, warm and comfortable. You reached across the table, brushing your fingers over his hand in a simple, affectionate gesture. A small smile played on your lips as you felt his fingers intertwine with yours, and for the first time, you didn’t feel like you had to hold anything back. There was no fear of losing each other, no worry that the cracks would reopen. Everything—every single piece of you—had found a place next to him, and for once, it felt right.

“I’ll help you,” you said softly, squeezing his hand. “Just like I always do.”

Spencer’s expression softened, his eyes reflecting a quiet sense of gratitude. You knew, deep down, that he wasn’t just thankful for your help with the case. He was thankful for everything—for your patience, for your trust, for the fact that despite all the mistakes and misunderstandings, you were still here. You had come through the storm together, stronger than before, and you could feel it in every touch, in every glance. There was an unspoken understanding between you now. A promise that no matter what came your way, you would face it as a team.

“You know,” Spencer said, his voice low, “I never thought I’d have something like this. Something so... real. So comfortable.”

You laughed softly, the sound light and free, a stark contrast to the uncertainty that had plagued your earlier months together. “I think we’ve finally figured out how to make it work,” you said, your voice steady and full of warmth. “No more pushing each other away. No more running. Just… us.”

Spencer nodded, his gaze softening as his thumb gently traced the back of your hand. “I’m not running anymore,” he whispered, the sincerity in his voice bringing a warmth to your chest. “I’m staying. For good.”

There was no need for more words. You leaned across the table, your lips brushing his in a kiss that was slow and full of meaning. It wasn’t a kiss filled with urgency or desperation, but one of quiet comfort. One of trust and affection. One that said we’re here, and that was enough.

As you pulled away, you saw the same sense of contentment reflected in his eyes, a peacefulness that had taken months to build but was finally here. You didn’t need anything else, because with Spencer, you had everything you’d ever wanted.

The coffee and case files were long forgotten as the two of you sat there, simply enjoying each other’s company. There was no rush to get to the day, no lingering doubt or fear. Just the warmth of his presence beside you, and the certainty that no matter what the future held, you’d face it together.

all notes and reposts are appreciated!! loving you always xx

divider: @fairytopea

tags: @floralemi12 @laviatia-blog @reggieswriter @hazzarules @spencerreidsglasses @notarobotipromise @gghostwriter @taygrls @powerline-valley @october-baby25 @forevermorepassionate

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[ragnarockz]

😌 Maya on an Important Business Call (that's been dragging out) to get funding for a movie but also fucking reader at the same time, trying to see if they'll fall apart before the call does 🙂‍↕️

The way I woke up at 1 am due to a thunderstorm shaking my mf house and then falling back asleep at 3 am and then waking back up at 6 am horndogged out of my mind THIS IS FINE, LC. THIS. IS. FINE.

Hello? Yes, this is Maya Mason here to get you W E T 🥵💧📱

"Hold on for a fucking second, let me put you on speaker..."

You hear Maya's nail tap her phone screen and then drop her phone down beside you on the bed. You sneak a glance at the screen and realize it's one of the top execs on the line. His picture is in a little circle with his number on the screen.

Is she fucking insane? You think to yourself as you push your face down into the mattress. You cannot let this guy know you're also technically on the phone call with them.

You know this is something she realized the second she answered her phone while her cock was deep inside of you. You thought she was being rude at first; half of the conversation filling the bedroom as she snapped her hips forward and got you face down into her bed. But then you quickly came to realize that this was something that got her off. She had to try and keep you silent while she fucked you and you, had to keep up your end of the deal as you gave her what she wanted AND had to keep yourself quiet.

It was no easy feat because she knew how loud you got and you knew how much she loved hearing you. Half of the time she goaded you into being louder; trying to see just how loud you could scream and beg for more. This was definitely one of those times and she was maybe even pushing you beyond your limits.

"Oh...mhm....no, yeah, I think you would have to re-schedule because if you don't, you're going to blow this whole fucking promotional event..."

Your brain tried to chug along and listen to her voice; that voice that was mean and rude and judgemental. That voice that made you instantly wet every time you heard it. Maya had caught on to that pretty fast and made sure she herself talked you through almost everything she did with you.

Maya wanted her voice to haunt you in your dreams and wake you up wet.

"Well, then you're fucking stupid if you decide to go with someone else! Who the fuck else is going to give you what you want for that stupid price you're offering? Are you kidding me? I wouldn't even drop that on...fuck, anything!"

You grabbed onto her silk sheets to keep yourself upright; not wanting to slouch too much forward as you had finally got the angle right. She was hitting upwards slightly; the tip of her cock hitting right into the spongy softness that was going to throw you over the edge. You wanted so bad to come for her and show her how good you were being while she was on an important business call.

You could throw a wrench in right now, you thought to yourself as you drag your face to its side. The phone call was still happening.

"...Mommy..."

You whispered just loud enough for her to hear and for her to instantly stop pounding into you. You bit your lip and wait for the punishment to come. Both ends of the phone call go silent.

"...Maya?...Are you still there?"

"Of course I'm still fucking here! Do you want me to send you that PDF or not?"

You let out an exhale in relief. Maybe he didn't hear what you had said or maybe, he was trying not to embarrass himself over hearing something that didn't belong in the conversation.

You wriggled your hips back, asking her with your body to keep going, to keep fucking. You suddenly felt the sharp nails of her left hand dig into your ass cheek as a silent warning to keep your mouth shut.

"Mommy?....Keep..going..."

Another whisper escapes your parted lips and onto the bed sheets once more. You make sure you were louder this time, a little more clearer. You feel her nails sink in deeper and without a doubt break your soft skin.

You moan in response, no longer caring about the man on the other end of the phone. He was the one who called and interrupted the two of you. He's the one who wasn't listening to Maya's suggestion about his shitty movie. She was the one who answered mid-fuck; her cock fully sheathed inside of you as she picked up that fucking phone mid thrust.

You were obviously the innocent party in all of this; as innocent as you could be as you moan and rock your hips back and try to fuck yourself.

Maya had a choice. Hang up and admit defeat or prove you wrong. She exhaled loudly and straightened up her spine. The grip on your body got harder, tighter. She was holding you still and taking back the control she had let slip away as her concentration dispersed to the phone call instead of focusing on you.

And god, did she want nothing more than to fuck you until you couldn't walk properly afterwards; stumbling around her mansion in the Hills.

She smirked and bent over to lay on top of your back; her mouth as close as she could get to your head so you could hear her speak in a deep, hushed tone.

"You want to keep playing these games with Mommy, you better give it your all then, Baby..."

You feel the pressure release on your spine as she pushes herself back up and away from you; straightening up and shifting herself around. You can feel her cock moving inside of you and not in the way that feels good. She's adjusting; she's trying to make you as uncomfortable as she can. Maya wants the asshole on the other end of the phone hooked on for every single second as she fucks you. She wants to see just how long he'll keep the phone call going before he hangs up and blames it on some technical error.

"Mommy wants to hear that sweet voice of yours...those sweet moans as I fuck this gorgeous pussy of yours...this pussy that belongs to me."

No whispers, no hushed tones. She's speaking as clear as she was with the guy on the phone and you let out a strangled moan almost instantaneously. You have no idea if the guy on the phone is still there or if he's hung up. You can't even see her phone anymore.

Not with the way she has you pushing your face so hard and so deep into her bed that all you see are the stars bursting from behind your eyelids as you feel the constant contractions you give her around her cock. You feel as you breach your growing arousal and the sensation of warmth filling you; surrounding her. The way your hot cum drips down your inner thighs.

You hear a faint crackle of something and then a laugh; her laugh. She's laughing as she ruts into you and makes you lose your balance, falling forward. A loud groan escapes your mouth and you hear the dial tone beep out as the call ends.

It's your cue to get louder, wilder. Hands trying to reach back to grab at her; any part of her. You want so badly to touch her but she won't let you.

Maya is in control; always in control.

She always gets the last word.

[etherealstar-writes]

I WANNA BE YOURS | LIONESSES X READER | PT 8

pairings: lionesses x reader

summary: in which you're accidentally added to a random group chat, not knowing they're all actually famous footballers, and obliviously end up having many of them competing for your love and attention.

part: eight

part one here

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

THE NATIONAL DIVING TEAM

stairway y/n, i gotta tell you something very important

the imposter okay? what is it?

stairway

the imposter when and where?

stairway i was thinking a beach wedding this weekend

willybum WOAH WOAH WOAH hell nah gimme a chance

the REAL karate kid i can be a way better girlfriend than all of them y/n

neev no meee!

the imposter as much as i love all these offers you guys don't even know what i look like

elton wdym? we all know what you look like

the imposter well that's not creepy at all i never sent you guys a photo of me wait a second so you guys are stalkers! OMG I KNEW IT!!

elton NO NO NO WE ARE NOT your friend sent us that one time she was on your phone we assumed you knew that

the imposter WAIT WHAT NO I HAD NO CLUE OMG WHAT PHOTO WAS IT?? SHE DELETED IT ON THE CHAT

stairway wait a sec

the imposter WHATT I DONT EVEN REMEMBER THAT THAT IS SO UNFAIR OMG hang on how do you even have that?

earpsy half of them have it saved on their camera roll in favourites

lauren 1 exposed haha

the REAL karate kid shut up

the imposter ..... um okay then that's not scary at all it isn't even a good photo

neev iSnT eVEn a GoOd PhOTo GURLLL shut upppp you're gorgeous i'll marry you instantly

the imposter aw tyyy ily <33

neev

the REAL karate kid NAHH BACK UP RN

stairway

i'm coming for you charles

neev

elton hold on you guys i just realised

the REAL karate kid oh hell no

lotte what could she have possibly thought of now

maya everyone prepare yourselves

elton if pregnant women were to go swimming would they be classified as human submarines bcuz you know they're pregnant

the imposter

earpsy you really have outdone yourself this time

willybum

neev toone how the hell did you even think of that 😭😭

stairway no but she lowkey has a point tho ... they technically are if you think about it

lotte not you too 😭

the imposter ella bae ily but .....

the REAL karate kid i second that

elton

honestly you guys are just jealous jealous of my

meado

lord save me

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

THE NATIONAL DIVING TEAM

the imposter how are my favourite stalkers doing? y'all have been quiet lately and i haven't been spammed with notifications from this chat it's kinda concerning hope y'all are doing well

lotte i would say enjoy the silence while it lasts lol but i'm doing well thanks! hope you're having a good day too <3

the imposter that's great to hear, and thank you!! xxx

stairway i'm doing good too!

neev i'm doing alright too thanks

elton oi we don't stalk you .... all the time

the imposter hold on okay i'm back

willybum WE'RE NOT STALKING YOU 😭

the imposter

guess this is goodbye my stalkers this has to end 🤝😔

stairway Y/N NOOO

the imposter

just booked myself some karate lessons see you guys on the streets ✌️

neev oh my god 😭

elton that's it i'm never going outside or leaving my house again

willybum nahhh this isn't fair Y/N come backkk

the REAL karate kid y/n my lovee plsss 🥺 i blame ella for all this

elton oi it's not my fault!

stairway it's okay we'll just wait here .... y/n?

neev okay its been half an hour y/n and still not an answer pls answer

the imposter a bit desperate are we, guys? what if i was just peeing?

stairway no of course not

willybum pfft we're not desperate

lotte um if you were peeing for about 30 mins then i would be seriously concerned and would be booking you a doctor's appointment

the imposter yeah yeah whatever you say, my stalkers :)

part nine here

[bishonenspit]

People on tiktok are claiming maya said he only sees maraich as bancoran's mistress... nice argument why dont you back it up w/ a source

Actually yes, I can! LOL

(This actually includes something I LOVE researching and explaining which is TRANSLATION NUANCCCEEEE let's hear it for TRANSLATIONNNNN)

At a base level, yes, Maraich is referred to as Bancoran's "mistress" by Maya Mineo and the canon text, if that is how you choose to translate "愛人" or "aijin".

As with anything in Japanese this can have like, a solid handful of meanings depending on the context it's used in. Or how you choose to translate it. Or both.

Most commonly, aijin is translated to "mistress" (and most commonly this is the result given by machine translation). So yes, this is technically what Maraich is called, however given the context of Bancoran and Maraich's relationship (and the fact that most commonly, it's not MARAICH who is the "other woman") a more accurate translation of it would be "lover", in my opinion.

More modern translations of aijin tend to add the connotation of an extramarital affair, but in old Japanese (and I mean old. think pre war.) it primarily meant something along the lines of "lover" in a more classic, straightforward sense. That connotation stills exists, but it now more commonly carries the implication of adultery lol.

Based off the typical comedic stylings of Maya Mineo, I would wager this specific word is used particularly because of its multiple meanings and undertones lol. Obviously, Bancoran is not married and cheating with Maraich. If I had to guess, it's specifically used as a tongue-in-cheek jab at the state of their relationship lol. They're lovers, but there's also a certain vibe of scandal to them even at Bancoran's most monogamous. (If you ask me, if the intention is a joke (which, likely) it's one of those things that's sort of untranslatable in a way. "Mistress" and "lover" are a bit too on the nose in their meanings in English to properly carry the implication aijin can carry. IN MY OPINION. Not a translator, just a nerd about it.)

That's just my two cents though, in terms of actual sources, the Japanese wiki page refers to Maraich as such, as well as this little article in Hana To Yume. And almost certainly a handful of times though the manga. It also pops up a couple times in the 99.9 special volume of the manga (confirmed after a brief skimming of my copy.)

Whether Michan himself only sees Maraich as such, I'm not sure. I don't think that's a thing he's said in those words, though he's probably referred to Maraich as Bancoran's aijin. So that specific "accusation" does lack a source, but the chances it was said are not zero. Though I hope with the context I added it comes off a little less scandalous. I assure you, Maya Mineo cares about both parts of BanMara relatively seriously.

If it helps, off the top of my head I recall that Maraich is referred to as Bancoran's "恋人" (koibito), which is the more common word for lover/romantic partner, hold the implication of adultery. (There could be more instances of this, that particular episode was just what popped into my brain as a moment where his "position" in regards to Bancoran was conversationally relevant.)

[alumi-san]

Wrightworth family au

- Phoenix and Miles started dating between AATaT and AAI.

- Edgeworth non officially adopted Kay and Sebastian after the events of AAI2.

- They moved into his apartment for better or worse>:)

- Sebastian and Miles accidentally called each other "father" and "son". It started happening more often so they decided "screw this!" and got use to it.

- Similar thing happened with him and Kay but without this much embarrassment.

- Phoenix met Apollo when he asked him to defend his teacher.

P: Well, not the first time a kid has asked me to defend someone.

- Afterwards, Phoenix adopted Apollo when he was 15 (not sure how it happened since we don't know his life between moving back to Japanfornia and becoming a lawyer)

- He is technically a dad to Pearl and took care of Maya so he knows what he's doing... right?

- When Phoenix analyzed Apollo's adoption papers he noticed something...

P: You're a girl?!

A: No, I'm a man!

P: Oh, then we need to change your documents later.

Apollo cried after that because it was the first time someone accepted him as male in a long time.

- Nick brought Apollo to the court with him on the day when MM-4 happened. He was very insistent on this since he wanted to see his idol in action (he didn't mention the idol thing because it's embarrassing now when it's his dad) but instead Phoenix suggested Pollo stay with Trucy. He was pissed at him but quickly got along with her pretty well.

A: I only know Trucy for 5 minutes. But if anything happened to her, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself!

- Apollo perfectly knows what she's going through since he was also abandoned by his father.

- Trucy was adopted 2 months later after Apollo.

- Phoenix thinks he disappointed his son despite him saying that he knows it's not his fault.

- After Phoenix's disbarment he wanted to break up with Edgeworth since he was a burden now with two kids and no job. Miles didn't want to hear any of it saying, that he cared about him and the children and would help with anything he could. He's not letting Wright give up so easily.

- Edgeworth visited the Wright family as much as he could and called them every day (with Kay and Seb of course)

- Kay created a chat group called "Wrights & Edgeworth's" plus "Team Task" just for the gang.

- When Apollo turned 18 and graduated from school he thought of finding a job since it wasn't right that only Phoenix and Trucy bring money and even that was not enough to pay for the office (they would starve without Miles). But Phoenix reassured him that everything was fine and he should focus on his law studies instead.

P: Especially studying Japanese, good lord I had problems with it in my days.

A: 半分日本人じゃないの? (Aren't you half Japanese?)

P: ...Since when do you know Japanese?

A: Since... always?

- Trucy doesn't force Apollo to be her assistant! He's doing this willingly.

- After "Turnabout Succession," Phoenix, Apollo, and Trucy hugged each other, crying that this was finally over. And then they all celebrated it.

- Phoenix did tell Apollo that he hired Athena because f*ck miss communication! Apollo of course was like "WTF Dad?! She's 18!" In which Phoenix replied "Pollo, your auntie became a prosecutor at 13"

- Also Athena is now a part of the family.

- Between AADD and AASoJ Miles and Phoenix finally got married and moved in with each other and they're kids.

- Kay renamed chats into "Wrighworth's" and "Team Taask"

And that's all for now! Be free to ask questions about this au.

[doudouneverte]

a/n: I totally agree with you

Other plans

*not my GIF*

Pairing: Sarah Zadrazil x NY/NJ Gohtam!reader; FC Bayern frauen x reader

Summary: A date with your wife while her team take care of your daughter....well that was your plan

Type: Fluff

Warning: none

word count: 1849

------------

Loud noises, and people everywhere, some walking faster than others, some who looked stressed or late. It was in this state that you left the plane. It was one of these days when you would come back to Europe after a big season in the US.

It was a hard choice to make at first. I mean, yeah, it is always hard to leave your family and your friends behind, but this time it was for football, so they understood. Well, almost everyone, because at first it was strange for your daughter to leave Germany. For her defence, a kid doesn’t really think about things like that.

“Look, it’s mama!” Your, surprisingly, very energetic daughter, yelled after she saw your wife. You look at where she was pointing to see a smiling and very beautiful Sarah waiting for you two. The middle fielder quickly closed the gap between you and hugged the little girl tightly.

“Hallo, meine mausebâr. Were you good for your mom in America?” The Bayern player asked.

“If we ignore that she was very spoilt by all the girls, then yes.” You replied while you gathered all your bags.

“I also missed you.” Your wife said before giving you a light kiss, making your daughter grimace. “Here, Maya, let’s show mama how strong you became and help us to carry the luggage in the car, okay?” 

The four-year-old girl nodded vividly and started to grab her backpack. You and Sarah took the rest of the luggage and followed your little girl to the car.

“I'm pretty surprised that she has so much energy right now.” The middle fielder remarked.

“Actually, she had a nap on the plane because she wanted to ‘not be tired and the first one to hug mama’.” You quoted with a smile. “Totally a mama’s girl.”

“Yeah, but we both know that you love our ‘mama’s girl’.” She mocked you with air quotes. “Now let’s go back home; I think you really need to rest too.” She caressed your cheek and admired your tired face.

It’s not really a surprise for her; you always had been the stressed one in the couple, so she could guess that you overthought the last night or packed and unpacked to be sure that you didn’t miss anything.

Being back in Germany, and especially in Munich, was a little strange feeling for you. Maybe because you’re Austrian, so you’re technically not ‘back home’, but the other thing was that the last time you played in the Bundesliga was when Sarah still played with you for Potsdam. Of course, southern city was a very great place for Maya to grow up, but you couldn’t help but miss the house you shared there.

“Finally back home.” Sarah announced before turning off the engine.

“Mama, can we see Sydney and Klara?” Maya asked very excited.

“It’s a little late today, but I promise that they will come to see you tomorrow after training. Now, what do you think to help me and your mom to unpack everything, and then I will give you your bath? What do you think about that?”

“Really?” The little girl asked.

“Yeah.”

“Yay, and I will show the new toys Esther brought me!”

“I really want to see them, but right now, help me to wake up your mom so she can help us, right? We can’t do everything on our own.”

After a few hours of unpacking things and a mama-daughter time, it was time to eat before sleeping.

“--and then, mommy took the ball, and she ran very, very fast to before she passed the ball to auntie Esther... Oh, auntie Esther played for Spain, and she’s really good, but I still prefer Klara and Syd–”

“Maya, please, babygirl, can you finish your dinner before?” you asked.

“But I was about to tell mama when you scored.” Your daughter pouted.

“You still can tell me before your bed story.” Your wife reassured her.

And it was with this promise on her mind that Maya finished eating and immediately waited for her mama. Being totally exhausted because of the precious hours, Sarah easily convinced you to let her deal with the four-year-old girl. When she came back to your shared bedroom, she found you still awake and waiting for her.

“She has a lot of energy recently.” She commented, making you laugh when you remembered how the team struggled to keep up with Maya’s energy.

“You should’ve seen her with Kelley. I swear this woman never grew up.”

“Well, she’s about to spend all her time with the girls.” Your wife reminded you before laying next to you. You both looked at each other, not exchanging a word, just smiling and appreciating the time together. "Congratulation, by the way. My wife is a NWSL champion.” She gave you a light kiss, which made you smile even more widely.

"Look, who’s talking? You won the Bundesliga last season. And I watched your game; you’re ready to do the same this season too.” You countered.

“I know, but it’s different when it’s come from you.”

“What do you mean by that?” You asked with a falsely offended look.

“I mean that we need to celebrate that properly, and that’s why I think I will take you on a date tomorrow.” She explained.

“Oh, really? Then I’m pretty glad to win this thing then.” You grinned and caught her lips between yours before you decided to finally call it a night. 

~~~~

The next day everything was planned to let you spend a lovely day with Sarah while some Bayern players would take your daughter to a ‘tanten and Maya day’.

“You have everything you need in her bag. I packed some snacks if she got hungry, and she had a bottle of water. If–.”

“Hey, Y/n, it’s okay. We know how to take care of our little girl here.” Jovana cut you off.

“Actually, she’s still legally our little girl, but I’m really glad that you accept to spend the day with her today.” Sarah said coming out of Maya’s bedroom.

“Okay, now where is she?” The striker asked. Just after that, you all heard some footsteps coming in your direction.

“Mommy, look, Syd bought me this.” Maya showed you a Bayern kit that, of course, the younger player brought.

“It’s suit you very well, little mause.” Linda said, making you roll your eyes. “What, isn’t she cute?” She asked you directly this time.

“Okay, now girl, we need to leave before there’s too many people.” Lea announced, and everyone followed outside.

“Lea, you’re in charge!” You told her, and she nodded. "Why do I feel a little stressed?” You asked your wife when everyone left.

“It’s okay; nothing will happen to her. She’s with her favourite aunties; nothing can happen, don’t worry. Now let’s get to change for our date.”

~~~~

Everything was perfect. It was maybe one of the best dates you ever had together. And even if there were still a little doubt about how the Bayern players took care of Maya, you forced yourself to trust them.

You were walking hand in hand with Sarah, talking about how much you missed her, and she was talking about how everything was going so far. And it was when you really started to relax that the middle fielder received a call.

“Uh, hello, Linda. Everything is alright?” When you heard that, you instantly froze.

“Yeah, of course. All is good. I just need to ask you a question. Maya still has all her baby teeth, right?” Sarah’s eyes instantly opened more wide.

“Linda, what happened?” She asked very stressed. Not knowing what her teammate was talking about, you started to get anxious. You started to gain her attention, but she was too focused on the call. “Where are you?... Okay, we’re coming right now.”

“What’s happening?” You asked when she hung up.

“Maya fell, and it seems that she lost a tooth, and she’s crying a lot.” Your wife explained before dragging you to the car.

~~~~

The ride to join the girls seemed endless. You couldn’t stop your heart from beating more than usual, your palms were sweaty because of stress, and you couldn’t look away from the road even in the passenger seat.

Once Sarah stopped the car, you immediately unbuckled your belt and rushed out of the car. You called for the girls, but no one replied. A few seconds later, Sarah was by your side, and she told you that Linda texted her precisely where they were. You followed her, a little anxious, even if your hands were attached together.

You walked a few more steps until you heard voices. You tried to decipher what they were saying, but the middlefielder dragged you with her when she started to accelerate. Then you both found Maya sitting on a bench with her favourite plush that you packed earlier. You started to run to her, but you stopped when you suddenly saw the girls coming out of nowhere.

“Surprise!!” They yelled together, making you look at them with a confused expression.

“What the hell?” Was the only thing that came out of your brain.

“We planned this before you came back.” Your wife explained after she joined you.

“Honestly, we didn’t know what to do to bring you there, so we used the help of Maya.” Lea said this time.

“Wait, you’re telling me that you almost gave me a heart attack for a…for a party?” You asked.

“Well, it’s not any party. It’s your party. Sarah thought it would be a good idea to organise that because we couldn’t be there to see your final against OL Reign.” Caro said.

“Yay, it’s mom’s party. Mama, can we eat cake now?” Maya asked, making you laugh.

“Of course, babygirl.” You said very amused.

Honestly, it was not really what you were thinking about two days ago. But you also didn’t think you could win the NWSL this season a few months ago.

And that’s how what should have been a date with your wife transformed into a party thrown to make up for something she didn’t have to.

“So, did you like your surprise?” Sarah asked once you were back at home.

“Yeah, that’s definitely the best surprise someone ever made me.” You replied.

“Well, you already gave me the best surprise I could ever dream off four years ago, and now I just try to match that, but it’s not easy.” You caressed her cheeks and admired her face with an enamoured expression.

“You don’t have to match anything; you already did so much all these years together, and I absolutely love you for that.” You said and pecked her lips gently, which helped a smile appear on her face.

The brunette was about to reply before Maya came into the living room. “Mom, can you read me a story tonight?” The four-year-old asked.

You looked at her and at Sarah before replying, “Okay, but what about, mama’s coming too?” The younger brunette nodded excitedly and ran to her bedroom, followed by you too.

[distracted-obsessions]

Can't You Hear Me Scream? Part 1

Warnings: Shock collars, calling Whumpee 'Puppy', mild disassociation (I think), mild sleep deprivation, TV show hosts.

Please tell me if I need to tag anything else.

Part 2 | Masterlist

...................................................................................

Knock, knock.

Mal groaned at the knock at the door, far too tired to actually get out of the pile of soft blankets and plush pillows that made up his little nest on the floor. From the long day of press releases and photo ops with 'the city's greatest heroes' to a long, overcast night fighting supervillains and getting his ass kicked while he hoped for a glimpse at the moon, he had barely been awake when he crawled into the nest last night. That hadn't stopped the nightmares but then again, nothing would.

"Mal?" A far too chipper voice said through the door. Liam. "Mal, you're going to miss breakfast! Wake up!" a couple more knocks at the door.

Mal rolled over and covered his head with a pillow. He just wanted to sleep. Preferably without dreams.

There was an uncomfortable buzz from the shock collar around Mal's neck, a warning of pain that shocked him awake in a moment, making him sit up in the nest. "I'm awake!" Mal shouted, hoping to avoid a real shock. "I'll be out in a minute!"

"You better be! You know how the captain gets when our puppy doesn't eat!" Liam laughed, not unkindly, but Mal flinched at the nickname anyway. He really should have been used to it by now. After 5 years at Camp Rainer and 3 different teams after that, he should have been used to being called 'puppy'. But it made his inner wolf growl with irritation every time, self-preservation be damned.

"I'll hurry," Mal said, reaching to pull on some clothes. He didn't dally but he still expected it when a second warning buzz came 5 minutes later, this one probably from the captain. He trudged out of his room and headed to the dining room, ignoring the happy chatter as he sat at the table and laid his head on the cool wood, closing his eyes.

"You tired, Mal?" Maya asked with a gentle smile.

Mal smiled back out of habit and nodded. "Just stayed up too late last night. I'll be fine."

"Good," the captain, Simon, said, putting a plate of food down for Mal and petting him in between his wolf ears. "We have an interview with Callie so you need to eat up and be well-rested so that you don't try to bite people's heads off."

Mal fixed his hair and dutifully ate the food set in front of him. He hated interviews and Callie specifically. The fake smiles and cutting remarks made him want to bang his head against the wall. She wasn't any worse than any other TV show host but she seemed just as equally upset that the team treated Mal like a dog as she was likely to treat him like one herself. The hypocrisy itself was enough to make Mal's head hurt.

Mal ate quietly while the team ran over test questions and rehearsed answers. Mal didn't need to participate. He didn't technically have to be there at all. He was just there to show how good the rehabilitation centers like Camp Rainier were at taming wild beasts like Mal and he was already an expert at that. He hadn't even realized that he had zoned out until-

"And before we forget, we should probably change Mal into his public appearances collar."

Mal glanced at Kate, carefully keeping his face neutral as twin waves of anger and anxiety ran down his spine. His 'public appearances' collar was about four times more sensitive than his normal collar and the shocks ramped up in intensity much quicker. Even on his most careful and obedient behavior, he still got shocked at least once every time he wore it. If he didn't know this team better and didn't know the policy he might have assumed that they were just cruel for the sake of cruelty. Sadly, he did know better and no amount of begging would change policy. He had tried.

"Thank you, Kate," Simon said, pushing Mal's plate closer to him in an effort to make him eat more. He knew from experience that just being in that collar made Mal lose his appetite. Mal took a moment to indulge in some healthy annoyance at that before shoving everything back into their respective boxes in his head and forcing down a few more bites. "Liam, since you're done eating, can you go grab that?"

"Right away, Captain!" Liam left whatever he was tinkering with today on the table and left the room. Mal managed about four more bites before Liam came back. His fingers tightened around the fork, the thought of stabbing Liam with it and bolting entering his head and immediately being directed towards the appropriate box as he slowly put the fork down and pushed away his plate.

Simon stood and walked around behind Mal, turning off and unbuckling his current collar and putting the new one on. It was sleek and black, the 'corrective measure' more hidden but easily seen when pointed out. Mal's shoulders tensed when Simon switched it on, the tell-tale beep almost making Mal flinch. Simon rested one hand on Mal's shoulder and pet him with the other until Mal could force himself to relax back into his calm mask.

"Good boy," Simon said in that same deadpan he said everything in. Mal knew it was just the conditioning that made him preen at the praise but that didn't make him stop. Just sent an undercurrent of frustration through his head. Simon gave him one last pat and sat back down, leaving Mal to figure out how to breathe around the collar.

They finished breakfast quickly and piled into the armored car to head to the studio. When they got there, everyone got into their makeup and headed to their spots, having small chats with Callie and the staff. Mal mostly just sat quietly in his chair and started weaving in his head to calm himself down.

In. Out. Over. Through. Add another color. First color in. Second color out. Second color over. First color through.

The music that signaled the start of the show played and Mal made sure he hadn't forgotten to put on a smile before going back to his weaving. Add another color. Second color in. Third color out. Carry first color. Third color over. Second color through. Carry first color.

"So Mal, how has working with the city's greatest heroes been treating you?" Callie asked in her blindingly bright voice.

Mal looked at her and then glanced around at the team. The captain's serine smile and eyes that stared right through Callie, Liam's bouncing leg and hands signing the conversation to the crowd, Kate's calm, neutral expression and subtle 'get on with it' gesture, Maya's expectant look and encouraging smile. He heard his own screams playing from one of the boxes in his head as he turned back to Callie with his own calm smile.

"Better than anything else in the world."

[mayamail]

I've already seen a good english translation for this (though I would have no idea where to find it now, since tumblr is the only social media I use) but I thought I'd take an amateur swing at it anyhow. it's my birthday and all

translation is mine, comic is not

TW for throwing up, probably just general depressiveness, it's not too bad

smakelijk!!

email: CONGRATULATIONS!! Dear [customer name], super duper happy birthday to our favorite customer! ��😘😘

disembodied voice: look who's birthday it is...

disembodied voices: I don't even know her name...

that boring girl?

isn't that coco and mymy's sister?

should we still congratulate her?

why should we?

she should show interest in people besides herself first

remember when she had to join a group because she couldn't find a partner for herself?

why does she have to make everything awkward?

don't remind me...

never mind her, she's just a shut-in

I always stay away from her, too

wait, isn't she having a party?

she probably doesn't have anyone to invite

that's what you get when you don't make friends

it's her own fault, right?

disembodied voices: what is she doing now?

I don't think she likes all the attention...

then she should have skipped school today

maybe she can do it at home

as if there is something to celebrate...

...

coco: ready, mymy? three... two... one... happy birthday to- au

mrs schoppenboer: sorry, girls, no party today. maya is sick

coco: sick on her birthday?

mymy: but we have stroopwafel cake for her...

mrs schoppenboer: she threw up a lot last night, so she has no appetite

mrs schoppenboer: maya needs some sleep now, so you guys go get ready for school. don't forget to report her [absent] to the reception

coco: hey, sissy, I just wanted to say-

...

coco: happy birthday.

TN: halloooo allemaal, longer comic + more complicated translations, I'm here to highlight what I changed in translation. firstly, didn't write the full email because that felt like a lot of time wasted on nothing since the point is there, maybe I'll go back and do that later though

"aso" is a sort of... mean way to say an antisocial person, it's derogatory, so I used "shut-in" because that felt a bit meaner than "anti-social" in english?

the next is that coco starts singing "lang zal ze leven", which is a dutch birthday song, I just translated that to "happy birthday to you" even though they're not the same thing

"sussie" is afrikaans, not dutch, though "sus" is close 'nough to "zus" anyone could guess what it meant

the tone of "fijne" here is a little less enthusiastic (at least that's how it reads to me) tried to carry that across with a period. it's a more literal translation of happy birthday, though

and one for analysis, since this comic seems to confuse people a lot: the first thing I want people to notice is that "dream maya" is a much younger version of herself. I think that implies that the disembodied voices are not her own thoughts/perceptions about herself, but things that people have said to her in real life. the loneliness of each panel is well presented. the second (and perhaps most confusing thing) is how it ends. maya awake and eating after saying she was sick (though technically true) repeats a pattern that we see more and more later on, of maya avoiding and rejecting any attempts from her family at trying to help her. the way she self-isolates is impulsive and she does it to cope, but it still obviously hurts the people around her, and it DOES come off as selfish, even if it really isn't (and she doesn't mean it to). I think that's why coco is mad. and maya's guilt for being, uh, herself, is a recurring theme too. it's really noticeable here

gelukkige verjaardag to me and all :P

[spinchip]

Dear spinchip, I have a few more questions for the #Ninjago Homecoming AU:

When or how do the ninjas get their suits? I'm thinking Wu gives them them like in the series, do they make them themselves or something completely different, and will there be any suit changes like in the series?

In the series, it was never explicitly stated that Phytor ate his other comrades in the crypt (for obvious reasons) and my question is, did this happen in your version as well and if so, how do the characters react to it, including Phytor (does he feel guilty for it or did he convinced himself that all was the human's fault)?

What are the orientations of the main characters? I'm thinking that in your writings so far you've referred to Cole as gay and Jay has a Bi sticker on his bag. If you haven't decided yet there is some headcanons om my: Kai: Bi-curious (I prefer Skylor but many in the fandom ship Cole) Zane and Pixal: Asexual (since they're robots are obviously what they can't do, but they can still develop a romantic fellings for others) Lloyd and Nya: Straight or Demi

Did Kai and Nya's parents disappear because of the Time Twins or was there some other reason for it?

If you watch Dragon Rising, you will adopt concepts that you like or are important to the lore, such as: Source Dragons who are technically god-like beings and they're the source of the elemental powers.

welcome back! I love your questions!

You are correct, they get their first set of suits from Wu! the first set is pretty simple and the ninja all end up "customizing" them in their own way (tying them a certain way, wearing stuff under/on top, pins patches and buttons, cutting off the sleves, stuff like that) eventually when they meet Dareth, he makes all their new fancy custom suits :] After they defeat Chen and his followers, the group all accept their destiony and move into the monastery with lloyd, Wu, and Misako and begin their formal training which is when they get their first color coded suits

Due to my writing style, I do think i'd end up explicitly including darker themes- so yes, Pythor does eat his fellow snakes and it is acknowledged in this version of the world. I think he does feel a little fucked up about it but he's also like, "I did what i had to do to survive. They should have been stronger if they didn't want to die." so his victims are to blame for his actions because they couldn't stop him from killing them (

I have certain orientations and ships i want to 'canonize' in this version of the story, but if anyone were to make fanart or a fic or anything, it's up to their discretion what they do with the characters. in my version, Cole is Gay, Jay and Kai are both Bi (though I don't think Kai would use any labels. if you asked he's be like "I like whoever I like." and that's it), Pixal does not care about intimacy or dating (She may eventually lean towards lesbian though. But right now she's kinda like "I do not have time for dating. I have work to do." workaholic), Zane is also bi or pan, I think Nya is straight and Lloyd probably leans towards demipan. For ships, I kinda cant decide what i want lol. I know for sure I want doomed Jaya (they date but break up) and I go back and forth between Glacier(Zane/cole) and braincell (zane/nya.) I also like the idea of a slow slow slooooow burn hotwire (kai/pixal) that would take seasons to set up.

I think so, yes. Kruz still kidnaps Maya and ray as of this post - might change in the future!

Maybe? This is technically just a rewrite of the original series and honestly I have no urgency when it comes to watching DR, so for now there are no plans to include any characters/concepts from the new series. If i do watch DR i might end up including things in this AU, but as of this post there are no plans to do so

[wjhik]

Pussy (Jude Bellingham)

A/N: Angsty one

Warnings: Slightly toxic jude; pushy reader; very light injury

Y/N's POV:

Jude knows I'm not a virgin. Him and I were best friends for so long, but we got romantic, technically more confused, about 2 months ago. I kissed him on a drunken night, and then he stayed the night with me. Not sleeping with me though. Then he popped the 'what are we' question. I've liked Jude for a while, but I can't help but feel like he doesn't feel the same way. He's not that romantic with me. He doesn't want to take me on dates or get me flowers, but he always wants to be touching me or have me touching him. He never calls me his, but never lets anyone near me. I've asked him about a relationship, and he explained to me how he moves around too much, and he only wants the best for me. I understand where he's coming from. If he just wants to stay friends, I get that. Even if he just thinks of me as a bootycall, I get that. At this point, I don't even know what he wants. He refuses to have sex with me.

Jude is sitting with me on my couch. He has his head on my chest and my hands are running through his hair. I've been staring at the back of his head for the past 5 minutes, contemplating our relationship. My train of thoughts is interrupted by Jude asking me the time. "8:32. Why?" I ask him. "I'm gonna go out with the boys at 9:30. I think they're bringing the girls, too. You're welcome to come." He tells me. Jude had his friend group and I had mine. Him and I have known each other forever, but we introduced our friends to each other a few years ago. We all turned into one huge friend group, some of my friends dating his, so our hangouts are usually quite fun for both of us. "Yeah, I'll come. Let me get ready."

"Hey, babes. You coming out today? Did Jude tell you?" Milly asks me. I put my phone on speaker phone and continue doing my makeup. "Yeah, he told me. I'm getting ready now." I tell her, brushing my cheeks with a rosy pink. "Alright. Need a ride? Jane and I are sharing an Uber. Want to share with us?" She asks me. "Nah, it's alright. I'm coming with Jude." I reply. "Ooohh. Juju's bringing his missus?" Jane, in the background, says in a singsongy tone. She's obviously already begun her drinking for the night. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. See you lot there. Love ya's"     I tell them, hanging up.

"Ready? Whoa." Jude says, looking up from his phone, leaning against the door frame. He walks over to me and wraps his arms around my waist, his face in the crook of the neck and swaying us back and forth. "You look and smell amazing, love." He says, placing a light kiss on my neck. I can feel my stomach doing somersaults. This is the most affection Jude has given me basically ever. "We should go." He says, pulling away from me. I immediately feel cold when he leaves me, and I don't think it's because of my barely-there dress that I have on.

"A round of tequila shots for the table, please!" Maya orders for the table. "Sooo..." Milly says, nudging me. "So, what?" I know what. She's going to ask me what Jude and I are and then get disappointed by my answer. "You know what, Y/N!" Jane says before going to take a sip of her boyfriend's drink (which she's drinking due to the ban on her buying one for herself), which is quickly snatched away from her. She pouts at him, and he explains how he'd like to see her alive by the end of the night. Those two bicker like an old married couple. It's more adorable than anything. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Josaiah. Anyways, how are you and Jude??" Jane says, brushing her boyfriend off her. "Same old..." I say, disappointedly stirring my martini. "You guys haven't even had sex yet? After he dragged you out of the club last weekend for dancing on that guy, I thought you would for sure get a good fucking." Milly says, shocked. "I thought so too, but apparently not. He just gave me a lecture about how 'guys can be dangerous' and how I should be more responsible." I say, finger quoting him. "Literally, who the fuck is this guy?" Phoenix chimes in, dropping the shots she received from the bar on the table."He's always loving on you and shit. Why can't he just commit?" She says frustratedly. She gets more angry about how guys treat me than I do. She's always been super protective of her girls. "He's not even worth your stress. Bottoms up." Milly says, passing out the shots to everyone, not including Jane to avoid an earful from her boyfriend.

"What are you pretty ladies up to?" I look back to where the voice came from. I see Jude and Alex standing there with their drink in hand, not paying a single ounce of attention to me. "Hey, baby." Phoenix replies, avoiding eye contact with Jude, still upset at his treatment toward me. Alex walks up to his girl, placing a hand on Phoenix's shoulder, giving her a kiss. Gets up to sit with her boyfriend on the other table. Alex takes this opportunity to sit next to Phoenix. Jude, however, continues looking for a seat. I make some space next to me and call out to him. He locks eyes with me and I pat the booth chair. Jude sits down and scoots next to me. I look around me to see all the happy couples loving on each other. Jude is talking to Toby when I cling onto his arm like a baby koala.

"Jude!! Come dance with me!!" I say, high on adrenaline. All of a sudden, this sad night turned into a very fun one. The DJ played some of our favorite songs and my girls pushed me to dance with them. With enough alcohol in my veins to keep me confident, I agree and I'm having so much fun. Jude shakes his head at me, sipping on his drink. I roll my eyes and walk over to him. I grab his hand and pull him. He leaves his drink and friends behind as he resistingly walks with  me. I start dancing with him, and it gets a little more heated than expected. He has his hands on my hips, damn near at my ass, and my arms are slung around his shoulder. I move my hand to his face and he looks away from me. I grab his face with both my hands and make him face me. We lock eyes and I kiss him. At first, he's timid and resistant, but after a while he eases into him. I hear a few shouts and catcalls from his friends before I decide it's time to go. I'm sick of this playing around shit. I'm going to get what I want from him today. What we both want.

I push him against the door and kiss him hard. His hands are hovering over my ass, but not touching. What is this guy so scared of? I break the kiss and reach behind me. I keep eye contact with him and grab his hands and put them firm on my ass. "Mhh...Y/N, we shouldn't..." He moans into my mouth. "Why not?" I say, grinding against him. He pushes my hands off him and grabs me. He kneels down to my eye level. "You're drunk." I sneak a light kiss on his lips. "I'm not. And neither are you. Don't be a pussy." One thing about Jude is that he doesn't get mad, but when he does, he is scary. He's a 6'2 professional athlete. As gentle as he is, he can hurt you if he wants to. One thing you never want to call Jude Bellingham is a coward.

I can see Jude's eyes go dark as that leaves my mouth. I know it was a bad idea, but I need a reaction from him. He flips me over and slams me against the wall I had him pinned against just a second ago. I hit my head relatively hard against the wall. I look away from him and the back of my head with my hand. This is quickly stopped with Jude's hand being wrapped tightly around my throat. The breath is stolen away by him. This isn't the reaction I expected, but it's better than nothing. "Say that shit again. I dare you." He says. My hands are pulling at his much bigger ones around my neck. "You're. A fucking. Pussy." I say, in between gasps for breath. Jude's grip tightens around my neck. He pulls me towards his face. I feel his breath fanning against my face. I see something in his eyes that I can't identify. He lets me go roughly, making me hit my head again. That was really aggressive, but maybe he just likes it like that. I don't mind. I look up at him, his eyes much softer now.

I lead Jude into my bedroom after that very rough interaction. I sit him down on my bed and get on top of him. "I'm sorry." I tell him. Maybe I went too far. I shouldn't play about stuff like that. Jude starts loving on me and apologizing. He's kissing my neck. "Mhh. It's okay. I liked it." I mean, I didn't love it, but it's Jude, so it's okay. I take off my dress and go in to kiss him. I feel him get hard underneath me. That's a good sign. He bucks up into me as I kiss his neck. I take off his shirt. He has his hands spread out, not touching me. Normally he's all over me. Maybe he's not like that while having sex. I start grinding on him and he's letting me, but still not touching me. I feel his semi go completely soft. What happened? Maybe I should suck him off. Guys like that.

I unbutton his pants and slip them off. I reach for his dick and squeeze it. "Y/N." Jude says in a serious tone. I continue stroking him through his underwear. "Y/N." I hear again. "What, Jude? What is it??" I ask him, desperately. I pull my hands away from him. "We shouldn't do this. You're drunk." He says. What is wrong with this guy? I'm barely tipsy. He's so open to shut me down when I want something, regardless of how I feel, so if he doesn't want this he can just say it. "Jude. I am fucking sober and we both know that!" I yell at him. How come the one time he needs to shut me down and shut me out he can't. Jude quickly jerks me off him, leaving me to fall to the bed, hitting my head on the headboard. "Fuck!! What is your fucking problem?!" I ask, rubbing my head. I basically have a concussion at this point.

Jude's POV:

How do I tell my best friend that I'm madly in love with that I'm scared to have sex with her? Not because of her or anything she's like, but I don't want to hurt her. Not emotionally. I would be the best boyfriend to her. No one could treat her better than me. Physically. She's so small, and I'm so...not. I get up, ignoring her cries of pain. I walk around the room to find my shirt. "Jude!! I'm talking to you!" I hear from behind me. Why does she have to make this so hard? Just let me leave without a fight. "Why won't you fuck me?! Or date me?! Or anything?! Man, all you fucking guys are the same! You take what you want and then leave before you get too fucking scared!" Ouch. Her voice sounds shaky. I hope she's not crying. I finish buttoning my shirt and grab my pants. "Jude, please..." She sounds scared. I finish putting my pants on and grab my shoes. I sit down at the end of her bed where she lies. "You're a fucking pussy." Does this girl not learn? I finish putting on my shoes. "Why can't you get it in your fucking brain that I don't want to hurt you? I've seen what guys have done to you. Who's going to be your Jude when I do that to you? That's why I won't date you. And I won't fuck you because I'm me and you're you. You were wrecked every time your 5'6 whiteboy would fuck you. Crying to me about how your legs, and your back, and your arms, and whatever the fuck else. I'm not going to be the one to do that. Not to you." I look down at her as I stand up from my place on the bed. She looks crushed, tears running down her face.

Y/N's POV:

Wow. I am an asshole. I see Jude's remorseful but exhausted face. I don't even realize that I'm crying. "I'm so sorry, Juju." I say, reaching for his hand. He sits down next to me. I tuck myself into his chest and he rubs my head, where he hurt me multiple times. As I start to doze off, I feel Jude getting up. "Where are you going?" I ask him. He walks out the bedroom door. I quickly get up and put on my robe and house slippers. I see Jude at my front door with his hand on the doorknob "Jude?" I ask him. Without even looking back at me, he turns the knob and walks out. Wow. Maybe I wasn't wrong about him.

Wattpad: funkyfishfeet

DM for requests

->

[slightly-warmer-hibiscus-tea]

CW: OC talk + Rambling / Blood / Gore / Censored Nudity (character sheet) / Mentions of Drugging

(idk why these warnings are so intense, but I swear it's all just silly OC talk T^T)

I’m kinda sorta working on more (comprehensible) TS OC stuff in between studying right now… I wanna hurry and talk about them but without info dumping (if given the opportunity I will without hesitation 😔…) because in terms of the best stories I have conjured up for OCs in general Naudedel and Noble are surprisingly good and I’m very excited to share how deranged they are together…

Right now it’s just about making Naudy readable and working on extra fun stuff… like monsters!

I’m trying to work out his “monster” form…. The concept is there, but the execution is just not ticking the right boxes for me right now… also, the line art at the end is old and probably will go unused, but thought it was something to add here because like hehe look at my deranged son :)

When it comes to the writing I'm going to split it into two chapters. The first half will be a summary+ of his upbringing, and the second on how he fucked up his arm and why. Just enough info to get a read on what his deal is pretty much. I just need to edit the first chapter and rewrite some parts then it's ready to annoy the world!

I'm trying to think of a good design for his original mother... I'm thinking dark hair and milf (¬‿¬)･ﾟ✧ ... honestly I need to start drawing out the designs for all the other TS OCs I've accumulated over the year (?) here's a fun list-

Hickery (bloodhound OC... dilf oc...I've already been made fun of for his name, but it stuck to me so I'm keeping it!)

Maya (another bloodhound OC)

Cove (Hound's ex-husband)

Cetcher's gf + informant, who still needs a good name...

and that one guy! (doesn't have a name yet... but is important in Hound's part of the story... she bashed some of his guys in the back of head with a hammer... it was a whole thing... Leander got involved... gang war stuff, don't worry about it...)

There are technically more OCs, like that Hightown lady Noble befriended during their first few weeks in town. However, I'm not sure if I'm including her in the final plot meeting. But yeah, anyway I'm rambling so on to Noble news!

For Noble, everything is plotted out in advance surprisingly…character playlist and all... just need to find the words to explain their story other than “parasite with a weird God complex feels guilty” I do have some old memes and art of them though!

Noble curse stuff...

Childhood cult stuff...

Current reality...

Poor person masquerade dress censored for tumblr...

Noble folks!

I actually wrote out a whole little thing for the black dress in a what-if scenario of...

"Oh! ,,,What if there is a masquerade in Hightown and Noble sneaks in to get some information on a certain individual who might know a thing or two about curses, but turns out the whole event if devious and their all eating babies or some fucked up shit,,,, and what if while sneaking around they see Leander and are like 'what's he doing here?' and they lock eyes but he ignores them as he ducks into a closed off area with some important looking people,,, once he comes out he walks past them and they lock eyes again as he leaves,,, Noble chases after him and once they catch up they get to see his cold and detached side right before he hides them from the other guest,,, after they talk for a bit, or more like Leander talking over them and their worries as he slowly wipes their memories while they protest that it's not fair only to wake up the next day back in their room,,, thankfully their curse is good for more then just silly bouts of insanity so they have a hunch on what happened, everyone around them who knew where they went the night before were obviously worried and the general consensus is that they might have been drugged and should go check in with Kuras just in case (wow this is getting long...) but on their way to the clinic they run into Leander and of course discusses their current problem with him ,,, words are exchanged,,, a kabedon may occur,,, as he whispers in their ear,,, all fun till he erases their memories again, or at least tires before receiving a little gift that makes him look at this whole curse thing from a different angle." DEEP BREATH! ...Anyways... yeah.

But it was taking so long to write out that I ended up losing motivation so yeah... like everything else we will pray the motivation comes back so I can finish that... plus who knows, I might make an x reader version of it if I can. (don't hold your breath... I'm extremely slow)

Anyway, I'm gonna to shut up now because I've yapped enough. I'mma make some hibiscus tea (ironic) and head to bed... Night night, if you made it this far, thank you for listening to my craziness <3

[lunar-inkclipse]

Can we do several of these at once?

Because…

🍓 🌵 🛼 🍄 🔪 ❄️ 🍦 ☁️ 🌸

And, juuuuuust to make you be more productive and also because I want to see what you’re working on…

🪲

If you pick only one, pick that one ;)

(I find this list especially fun, what can I say)

We sure can do multiple of these at once!! I love yapping ^_^

🪲 ⇢ Okay so technically this is 85 words and not 50 but surely y'all won't mind too much. Assuming, of course, you wanted this and not the thrilling results and observations section of my report ;P

Maybe he should have tried to interpret the messages written in the night sky on the way here. Maybe they would have predicted the truly unpredictable: Logico unabashedly causing a scene by way of interrupting the alumni dinner. The shrill creak and slam of the doors being thrown open silenced all the idle chatter in a matter of seconds, drawing all attention to Logico, drawn up in accusation. “It was Chancellor Tuscany with an ivory scepter in Old Main! Why? To take over the school!”

🍓⇢I got into writing fanfic in 2017, after having read it for a few months- My thought process was basically "woah this is really cool!!! and "I really like blorbo from my games, I'm gonna try and write my own fanfics!!" Sometimes I still look back on my old notes app writings (some finished, most not) and realize I have changed a lot in some ways (I can write something coherent this time around!) and not at all in others (my first fanfic was a ghost AU)

🌵⇢ It's no secret I'm a huge Murder Drones fan, but I'm also a fan of some of Liam Vickers's older works- especially his music! The playlist linked has some reuploads that were deleted from the main Scary Story Time with Liam channel. My favorites are Hive Minds Think Alike, Left Hand Design (and its piano cover), and Yellow Halogen. Not featured in the playlist, but Kirie's Theme goes hard as hell.

🛼⇢😢😠💔😔🥺 🍄⇢ I’ve made a lot of oxymorons headcanons already, so I’m gonna branch out and hit y'all with an Ace Attorney headcanon- As a Franziska x Maya fan, I really like the idea of Franziska slowly lowering her walls at Maya's insistent cheeriness. Consequently, Maya can also get away with a lot of stuff that only she can get away with. Like getting in Fran's personal space :P (Been a while since I've done a lot with Ace Attorney, but I know it's a fandom we have in common ^_^)

🔪⇢ "When was Mac and Cheese invented" for a fanfic I wrote a million years ago (I think it was invented in like the late 1700s?) is the first thing that comes to mind. There's also the stuff I've googled for vampire AUs, such as vampire lore, how much blood can someone lose before it's fatal, and phone camera construction. Honorable mention for all of Irratino's investigative methods, so I now know about dowsing, scrying, and astral projection work and kinda how to do them!

❄️ ⇢ For Murdle, a fic about Chapter 3 in Murdle 1 or 2 would be so interesting- For vol 1, some more Mr. Shadow stuff from Irratino's POV would go insane. What's he thinking? Do his friends know about it, or are they as surprised as Logico is to find out he's alive? Are they just as mad? Disappointed he didn't trust them enough to talk? If they know, does Logico ever find out they knew and didn't tell him?

For vol 2, I would be down for either Logico or Irratino's POV. What's Logico thinking when he's kidnapped, alone in a foreign country, and his boyfriend won't pick up the phone? How's he faring? How's Irratino faring, knowing his boyfriend is imprisoned?? Does he feel a pang of grief or comfort when he uses Logico's methods in his absence? Can we elaborate on the fact Irratino just burned down an entire slaughterhouse?? (Also, why ISN'T he picking up his phone at all??? Surely he has Logico's number saved and can see who's calling?!)

Outside of Murdle, I'd really like a Ninjago fic that gives Pixal actual lore and backstory about what she was up to during the events of Dragons Rising until she appeared. The canon explanation sucked so goddamn bad.

🍦 ⇢ Gonna talk about Gideon Gleeful of Gravity Falls fame here: a) Conceptually, he's actually pretty cool. A 'child psychic' getting his fame through conning and deceit as he spies on the townsfolk to get his answers and manipulates them to do what he wants? Pretty damn cool!

b) Out of all the side characters, Gideon is the character who's future I'm most interested in. Does he turn his life around, or get more conniving? Does he distance himself from everything he's done or use it to rebuild a name for himself, or does he just take over selling cars? He's gonna have a heck of a time on background checks, that's for sure.

c) His design works really well for him and his character. The suit and tie, the pompadour hair, the cute face and demeanor that works to build his image that also fits his actual personality- I do like it! Even if he joins the cast of "Comically overdressed for Oregon summers" :P

☁️ ⇢ Okay I'm very glad this got asked because I have answers!! I originally came up with it on February of 2022, and I know that because I have it in my notes app on my phone hahaha. I had no social media or anything but I was sitting in line for lunch one day and just got the absolute brain blast of "Lunar Inkclipse" because I love the space aesthetic and writing/art, so I wrote it down and eventually made it my Ao3 name. I'm very proud of it! (On the downside, my irls' favorite bit to just say "Lunar Inkclipse" and you can imagine what kind of psychic damage this inflicts on me.)

🌸 ⇢ I have two cats and I love them dearly (and I will let you guess which one has actual braincells out of the two)

Thank you for the ask!! I really do love these ^_^

[elacular-kink]

Poly-techhic 6: Scaring the shit out of my girlfriend (I fucking love halloween)

Finally wrote some more of my poly lesbians. For this one, we'll actually be going back in time a bit to be seasonally relevant. Chronologically, this takes place between chapters 1 and 2. In this one, Maya takes Kiran out on a date to a haunted cornfield because...well, see the title above.

Character Sheet

TW: Spooky Halloween stuff, trouble speaking, anxiety

Kinks: Hiccups, Embarrassment

"HEY! HEY SUSIE! LAST CHANCE TO COME AND GET THE SHIT SCARED OUT OF YOU!"

"FUCK OFF, MAYA!"

"PUSSY!" I sighed and shook my head as the window up above opened and a middle finger stuck out. "Damn, I was really hoping my slutty werewolf costume would do it for her. Didn't manage to get her out last year either."

My slutty werewolf costume was clearly doing something for Kiki, who I had jury-rigged a somewhat slutty nurse outfit for out of clothes we both had lying around. Even so, her attention was primarily on me and my fur bikini, which I didn't mind one fucking bit. "Th-that's alright, Maya. A-after all, this is supposed to be a date with the two of us, right? It, um, it could be awkward for Susan to be made a third wheel."

"Still don't think you're getting the whole polyamory thing, but whatever. Damn. I knew Liv was out, but I really thought I could get Sue." I realized Kiki was wriggling nervously and decided I needed to kill whatever self-deprecating bullshit she was thinking right now, so I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up next to me. "Ah, screw 'em, though! That means I get to keep all this hot girl to myself tonight! So don't be afraid to cuddle up, cutie." I winked at her and she made a whole bunch of not-word noises. "I'll always be here to hold your hand if you get spooked. Or hold anything else you'd like." I gave her hip a squeeze and she squeaked at me. Kiki's autism apparently worked differently from Liv's. Liv you couldn't touch unless she touched you first, but Kiki never touched anyone first, and she eventually managed to say (with way more fucking words than she needed to) that she wanted to be touched and was generally okay with me doing so. Still, I kept it sweet. I'd had to deal with people playing it way slower in the past and in way dumber ways...Susie.

Either way, I brought Kiki over to my car. The car that was definitely mine and that I definitely hadn't technically stolen from my older brother. Fuck him, though. He ran off to New York City, they had subways there. "Don't worry, Kiki, I know I'm driving tonight, so I'll keep it clean. I wouldn't mind you driving my car if you wanted to though! Do you know how?"

"Ah, um, yes, somewhat, but I've never driven on legal roads before."

I adjusted the rear-view mirror to get a look at her. "You, uh...wanna elaborate on that?"

She stared down at her lap, picking at her fingernails. "My, um...my parents somewhat own a, um...private...racetrack?" I wasn't sure if she could see the way my jaw dropped, but either way, she started trying to explain. "Well, not own precisely! I-I mean, they do have a membership in the location of—a-and it's one of the highest levels so we essentially always—I don't consider myself—"

"Girl, your parents have some serious 'fuck you' money, huh?" I made my voice sound as light and amused as I could while I shifted into drive. "Jealous. My parents never had money for shit." I laughed, but it was a little more true than I wanted to admit.

"Is...is that why you're so...competent at sewing? N-not that I expected you to be incompetent, but—"

"Nah, that's fair, I'm not competent at much besides being a sex god and tackling bitches." I sighed. "Yeah, all the girls in my family had to learn to do that kinda shit. Sewing, cooking, taking care of babies, all the 'girl' stuff. Never really understood why, but they had a sorta every-sperm-is-sacred kinda thing going on, so I have a fuckload of siblings, and I'm right in the goddamn middle. But screw 'em, I don't wanna take care of babies my whole fuckin' life. Besides, they don't need me. They had, like, seven other mes that could take care of it."

"Is that why you act like you do now?" I grunted and glanced back over my shoulder while we were at a red light. Kiki had a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, you act in ways that command a lot of attention, and you surround yourself with large groups of people, but do your best to avoid being tied to the vast majority of them in a way that would limit your freedom." I kept staring at her, and she wriggled and avoided my eyes. She always did that, but she was especially doing it right now. "Um...the light is green."

"Shit, sorry." I was glad there wasn't some prick behind me to honk. It was a little too quiet for a little too long, so I laughed. "But damn! You and Liv must have the same autism superpower, 'cause you read my ass like it was quantum physics homework or whatever the fuck you do."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, um...to..."

I shook my head but kept my focus on the road. "Don't you worry about it, Kiki. Not your fault you're a genius." It was my fault for surrounding myself with people smarter than me, but frankly, not doing that would mean I could hang with Chloe and that's about it. This was why I liked Susie. She was only as much smarter than me as normal people were. "I'm not upset." I waited for a second, then smirked. "But even if I was, I'm about to get some fuckin' revenge, cutie. You've never been to a haunted cornfield before?"

"I don't think I've ever been to an unhaunted cornfield before."

"...you know what, neither have I? But fuck unhaunted corn, what's even the point if there ain't ghosts and shit?" I heard her laughing and it got easier to smile. Good. Even if she was gonna accidentally psychoanalyze my shit, I wanted her to have fun while she did it. The rest of the drive was mostly chill. When I asked Kiki if she liked music, she said she didn't know and asked me to play something Susie would recommend. That was a bad idea, but hey, she's the one who told me to do it. So I got to get a look at the kinds of faces she made while I played an album by a band called the Piss Hydrants. That was fun.

It wasn't nearly as much fun as what was coming, though, and the second I parked at the "farm" about a half-hour away, I jumped out and howled at the moon. Someone probably yelled at me to shut up, someone usually did, but fuck them, it was Halloween. "Welcome to the spookiest night of your life, beautiful!"

Kiki got out of the car and tried to shrink in on herself. She was way better at that than someone as tall and gorgeous as her should have been. "Um, th-thank you?" I hopped over the hood of the car and wrapped an arm around her waist, getting a cute squeak out of her. "Ah! I...I hope that you don't get upset if I get too scared?"

"That's the point, you silly bitch!" I stood up on my toes but still had to hop a little to kiss the tip of her nose like I wanted to. "I wanna see you get scared so I can be all 'oooh, come here, princess, lemme knight-in-shining-armor that ass!'"

"A-aaah!" Kiki covered her face and I couldn't stop laughing. God, this girl was fucking precious. Susie didn't know what she was missing.

The fact that Susie was missing it was really annoying, actually. These two dorks had been gawking at each other since their eyes first didn't meet, and they still weren't getting with the fucking program all the way into October. If these bitches weren't kissing by Christmas, I was gonna throw a fucking fit. At least I had Liv helping me out most of the time on this one. But for right now, Kiki was all mine, and I was gonna enjoy the hell out of that. "So, you wanna jump right into the scary stuff, pretty girl?"

"H-hang on, let me just..." She took her purse and pulled out a little notebook and pencil (what the fuck, this cute little nerd!). "Alright. I should be able to map out the maze as we go through it. That should help us avoid getting lost."

I barked out a laugh. "Oh shit, right, you're smart. You're gonna do this in a smart way and not just run down every single path until you figure out the right one in a few hours."

"I...don't know that I'd even be physically capable of doing it that way."

"Fair 'nough. We'll take it at smart-girl speeds then. And don't you worry 'bout a thing. If the monsters come for us, I'm the slutty one, they'll go for me first." I popped up onto my toes so I could tap the tip of her nose. The confused way her face wrinkled at that was fucking adorable.

It took us a bit to actually get into the cornfield. Kiki got distracted by jack-o-lanterns and the hayride and adorable shit like that. She kept flapping her hands the whole time. It was so fucking cute, and I was glad she mostly didn't notice she was doing it. But eventually, I finally managed to get the two of us into the maze. The cute mad hatter/juggalo-looking motherfucker at the entrance gave us some spiel about a murder or vampires or some shit, I didn't really care. All I cared about was that my tall-ass date was clinging to me and already looking spooked as hell even when we just stepped in. "Don't worry, Kiki," I snapped a quick kiss to her cheek and she squealed. "I'm a tough girl. I'll protect you from Freddy Krueger or whoever the fuck's out here."

She nodded a few times, but still clung to me as best she could. It was kind of hilarious that even with her arms around my shoulders, she was doing her best to draw out a map in her tiny little notebook. "S-so the entrance is here...I think that making the lines represent approximately five meters would be adequate, so with how we've traveled thus far—"

"Babe, we can literally still see the entrance if we turn around." Kiki whimpered and buried her face in my hair as I laughed. "Don't worry, don't worry! You can map out anything you want. Just wanna make sure you know we ain't lost yet."

"O-of course."

As much of a brave face as I was putting on, the spooky ambiance was getting to me. That wasn't a surprise, I knew it would. And the rustling cornstalks and weird noises being piped in from somewhere did creep me out, but that fact just hyped me up. It was hard not to run ahead to try and find the first scare, but having Kiki clinging to me helped me remember, and I was glad my hair was poofy enough that I could bounce and wriggle underneath her without headbutting her chin.

I was even more glad that my poofy hair protected her when a guy wearing fake teeth leapt out and "Blaaaaagh!"ed at us. I shrieked and jumped back, just barely stopping myself from shoving too hard into my date before I burst out laughing. "Fuck you dude!" The vampire didn't insult me back. Instead he just "Blaaaaagh"ed back into the cornfield. After that, I was still laughing, but I knew I'd heard some loud Kiki noises behind me, so I turned around to check on her. "H-hey, cutie. That guy didn't get you too bad did...he?"

Instead of a nervous smile or a look of surprise like I expected, Kiki's face was bright red and her eyes were shut tight, both hands clasped over her mouth. "Mmh!" She made a weird, muffled little noise that I didn't really hear right.

"You okay?" She didn't respond. "Hey, it's okay if you yelled, babe. That's kinda what we're here for." She squeaked again and I noticed how her whole body jolted. And then I realized I recognized that kind of jolting, and I had to chomp down on the inside of my lip to make sure I didn't start grinning. "What's up, Kiki? Has one vampire really got you shakin' that hard?"

After a moment, she let out a few whimpers, then finally coughed out a breath before she sucked it back in with a "*HEEK!*"

I couldn't stop myself from smiling that time, but I at least managed to hold back most of my laughter. "Whoa! That was so loud! What was that, Keeks?" She whined more and kept her hands over her mouth, and I did my best to calm down. "Hey...hey, you good, hon?"

"Mmf...*HMK!* Nnh!"

Yeah, I still couldn't stop smiling. I did my best to be gentle with her though. "Awww, babe. You got the hiccups?" She whimpered and nodded, and they were still loud even through her hands. "That's fuckin' adorable." The sound she made at that and how red her face went drove me absolutely crazy. How was this girl so fucking cute? I kept my arm tighter around her waist and felt how it bounced her whole body against me. Nowadays I totally got what made Susie so into this. "Don't worry about it, cutie. I don't think you're gonna attract any more ghosts than my loud ass was already gonna." I felt her giggle, then hiccup again, and I couldn't help it. I just popped up and pressed a smooch to her neck, and that got another kind of squeak out of her. "And hey, they say a scare's supposed to cure those, right? So fuck, we're in just the right place here! Let's keep going!"

Now Kiki was trying to cling to me, draw her map, and cover her mouth all at once, and it super wasn't working. As adorable as that was, it was slowing us down enough that I felt like it was kind of an issue. It took us nearly five minutes to even get to the next spook, and as soon as the knockoff ring chick screamed at us, Kiki started hiccuping even worse. She whined and buried her face in my hair, and even if it was the cutest shit I'd ever seen, I wanted to make sure she was actually good. "Hey, ring chick! Samsara or what's your face!" For some reason, that made Kiki laugh, and that didn't make her hiccup any less. Ring chick poked out of the corn again and looked at me...probably. I couldn't tell through all the hair. "Can me and my date have a minute in your little hidey-hole? I, uh, I promise we're not gonna fuck in it."

"Maya! *HIUK!*–ah!"

"What?" I turned to Kiki. "I said we're not gonna fuck in it." After a moment, the ring chick shrugged and held open the corn for us. "Thanks, sis! C'mon, Kiki, you're okay." Once me and Kiki were in the little corn hollow (the ring chick stayed outside like a spooky bouncer or something), I sat us both down and rubbed her back. "Hey. You good, babe?"

She pulled her face out of my hair and nodded weakly, but she was shaking even between her hiccups. "S–*HMK* s-sorry Ma–*UCK!* A-aaah...*MMP* M-Maya. *HEEK!* Nneh!"

"Hey, what the fuck are you sorry for?" I put my hand on her head and pulled her down to lean against my chest while I rubbed her hair. She didn't let me just plant her face in my boobs though. Shame. "You didn't do anything wrong. I just wanted to check on you." She tried to say something, but eventually she just whined, and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. "Hey, I can tell that talking's tough right now. Would it help if I guessed what was up?" After a second, she nodded again. "Are you worried that your hiccups are interrupting us?" Another nod. "Okay, if that's the case, don't even worry about that. I'm here to have fun, and seeing you all cute and blushy and hiccupy is totally fun!" That made her even cuter and blushier and she actually did hide her face in my boobs that time. I hoped she didn't realize that was what she was doing. "Any other worries?" She nodded and I hummed and thought about it. "You worried you'll...bug other people?" Another nod. "Babe, most of the people here are little kids or drunk college students, they won't give a shit. And besides that, I'm way fuckin' louder than you."

After a few moments, she slowly lifted her head. "Th–*UK!* nnh...*HMK* those were the m–*HMP*–m-main ones."

"God, you are such a fuckin' sweetheart, you know that?" She hid her face again and I couldn't help but laugh. "So if you know those are okay, any little worries or anything?"

After a few hiccups, she mumbled something into my chest. "It's em–*HMP!* embarrassing. *HNK-LP!* Nnh!"

"Awww, babe," I pulled her chin up and smooched her forehead. "You don't gotta be embarrassed. You're cute as fuck." It took all my self-control not to smirk while I said a thing I probably shouldn't have: "Susie'd totally agree with me if she was here." Kiki squeaked and hid her face one more time, and I couldn't help laughing. "She would! She'd be like 'Aww, poor Kiran. It's okay, my powers of butch emo-ness will take care of you and your hiccups.'" She would absolutely not be like that, she wouldn't even be able to say the word, but I couldn't share that part yet.

After a second, Kiki pulled her face out of my tits and gave me a weird look. "Um...*HMK* Maya, is it o–*HOUK*–k-kay if I ask y–*HOOP*–o-oou a question? *HMK-MMP!*" I shrugged. "You...*HULP* You know that I ha–*UCK* have a crush on Su–*HOOK* Susan, right?"

I stared down at her and let her free when she started squirming. "I mean...duh? Everyone knows that. And she's definitely into you too."

Kiki laughed way too loud and fake at that, and I could tell she didn't believe me. Fuck, why was Liv the only girl I'd ever met who knew how hot she was? "I, um...*HMP* I don't know ab–*HOUK* about that." There was a shriek from outside and I jumped and Kiki let out a huge "*HIULK!*" I couldn't help it, I cackled at that, and I was glad that a second or two later, she giggled too. "The...the wo–*HUP* woman out there is go–*HOOK* good at her job. *MMK*."

"Man, maybe I should try and get hired here next year. I'd love to get paid to do this shit."

"You'd be–*HEEK* so good at *ICCUP* that!" Kiki smiled and flapped her hands, and I thought I'd gotten her to actually forget her hiccups for a second. A moment later, though, she shrunk in on herself again. "B-but what I w–*UCK* was saying was...um–*HUMK* if you know that I'm at–*HUP* attracted to Su–*HOOK*–usan, then why a–*URK* are you dating me?"

I blinked. "Uh...kinda thought we'd been over this. Like, I'll mess around with just about everyone, especially a cutie like you."

"I-I underst–*UP*–stand that! A-and I a–*ULK*–also know that Su–*HOOK*–san is in a sort of re–*HEEK* relationshi–*HIP* with you and a–*ULP* also with Olivi–*UCK* and it's sort of co–*HMMP*–plicated and..."

"Slow it down, babe, you're going in circles." I rubbed her back and felt her jolt into my hand as she took a few deep breaths between her hiccups. "Yeah, Susie and Liv and I are all poly in our own ways. And Susie likes you. And I like you too. Dunno if Liv is into you like that, but she definitely doesn't not like you. So I'm not sure what the issue is here."

Kiki sighed and stared down at her lap while she knelt on the ground next to me. "I...I don't *HUP* quite know myself. *HMK!* It just..." She hiccuped a few times, but I couldn't let myself enjoy staring at her as much as I wanted to. The look on her face was still weirdly serious. "It just se–*HEEK* seems hard to bel–*HIEVE*–Hmk-khff–*MMK!* E-excuse me. *HMP*. It's hard to be–*HEEP* believe that I'd ge–*HUP* get this lu–*HUCK*–ky. To be born int---to money. To have the e–*up* educational opportun–*ic*–ties that I've had. And then to ha–*uck* have two incredibly strong, handsome, pretty," she started flapping again, "f-funny, bold, cool girls h---have a crush on me? It just..." She sighed. "It doesn't make sense. *hmp*. Nobody's that lucky."

"Kiki..." I stared up at her and kept rubbing her back, then knelt up tall so I could pull her into a hug and have her head on my shoulder. She was a little surprised, but she still wrapped her arms around me, and she was so soft and fat that she couldn't help but be a good hugger. Plus, I got to feel a few little hiccups still rocking through her body. After a bit, I pulled back and adjusted my glasses (no contacts, ever, not even for a werewolf costume. Fuck it, werewolves can have glasses too) so I could look at her face. She avoided my eyes, but only in a normal Kiki way. "I mean, you're the math nerd, so you know more about probabilities and shit than my dumb ass, so let's go with what you say. Sure, nobody gets that lucky. And neither did you." I poked her nose again. "You didn't get lucky. You got pretty and smart and sweet and cute and nerdy, and that made people like you. That's not luck. That's just people seeing the shit that's obviously right in front of them." Her whole face went so red and she buried it in my chest again, whimpering out a few more hiccups. I laughed. "See? This is the kind of shit you do that totally proves my point! That's cute as fuck, Kiki!" I tilted her face up at me again. "That's cute as fuck. And so is drawing a weirdly accurate map of the maze in your notebook. And so is looking all nervous and happy all at once in your slutty nurse costume." She hid her face again with that, but I let her get away with it. "And so is getting so spooked that you catch the hiccups. Think they're all better now though."

She nodded into my boobs, then pulled back further, and I sat back on my heels so she was taller than me again. "Th-they are. I think. Maybe. B-but it's strange." Her lips pursed in a cute little thinking face. "Ever since the start of the school year, I've been catching the hiccups much more frequently than I used to. I-I'm assuming that it might have something to do with HRT, erm, hormone replacement therapy because I started that at the same time, and it makes more sense that it might be a cause than just a change in environment, but I've never actually heard that...um...M-Maya, why are you smiling like that?"

I realized that I was grinning like a fucking maniac. Which was so not my fault! Kiki was getting the hiccups more often as soon as she came here? Christ, it was fucking fate! Liv and Susie may have been soulmates, but these two were totally meant for each other too! Susie you lucky fucking bitch, why aren't you on this date too?

Buuuuuuut I wasn't actually allowed to say any of that. So instead I just laughed. "'Cause that's cute as fuck too, Kiki! And it means I get to tease you about it!" Her face went red and she stammered, but I knelt up again so I was tall enough to throw an arm over her shoulder, pulling her in close enough that I could give her a noogie. "Adorable little nerd with a case of the hiccups...fuck, how am I supposed to not smooch you?" I snapped a few kisses to her cheeks and she giggled and squirmed in my grip. And hearing and seeing her laugh just made my whole fucking week.

Once her giggles had calmed down, she wiggled away from me again and stood up. "W-well, um...if you think it's cute, that's good, because I...I feel like they're not quite...gone? I think they might start up if I get frightened again."

"Well, since you're so fucking cute with them, sounds like even more reasons to keep going deeper into the corn then, huh?" 

After a moment, she nodded, then wrapped her arms around my shoulders again, writing in her little notebook and burying her face in my hair. "Lead the way please, Maya."

"With fuckin' pleasure, Kiki!"

I took Kiki back out of the corn and thanked Samanda or whoever the hell the ring girl was (and I also had Kiki give me a piece of her notebook paper to give her my number), and then we kept going through the maze. She was right, the next time she got spooked she started hiccuping all over again, but this time she just kept her face in my hair, squeaking and squealing and hiccuping, bouncing more and more every time we got scared. Even if she weren't muffling herself, she probably wasn't louder than me since I screamed every goddamn time. But even with her bouncing and shaking all over the place (which was kinda doing something for me the way her belly and new tits kept pushing into my back), I noticed her giggling after the scares along with me. Good girl.

Fuck, how were the girls around me all so fucking cute?

When we got to the end, Kiki was a worn-out, hiccupy, giggly mess, so I took her to the car to calm down. I couldn't talk, though. Almost literally. I'd screamed my ass off in there, and my throat was kinda fucked. "Hey, lookit you, all smilin' and shit. You have fun, Kiki?" She was hiccuping so fast that speaking would definitely be a pain in the ass, so she just nodded at me through the rearview. "Good! Good. But you did a lot more walking than you usually do, I bet." She slowly frowned and nodded. Fuck, made her sad. Fixing that immediately. "A lot more bouncing and hiccuping too." That got her to blush instead of looking sad. Better. "So you probably wanna head back home, huh?" She nodded again. "Works for me. I'll hit some of the parties once I put your hiccupy ass to bed. Don't think either of us will be doing much talking on the way back, though, so how about some more Sue-approved music?" The concerned look that got out of her made me snort. "Don't worry, this time I'll play something normal humans like too. Bitch isn't too good for Queen."

The drive back to college was pretty chill. Kiki was hic-hic-hiccuping away in the back, and I really wished Susie'd come with us so I could have chucked her back there too, but she was also bobbing her head curiously along with Queen. Cute. And I got to put most of my focus on the road like I was actually supposed to do.

It ended up being a really good thing I did that because we weren't far from the college when I saw something that made me hit the brakes. "What the..." Kiki looked worried when I said that, but I pulled into reverse, moving backward on the street, slipping into a fake parallel park, and rolling down the window. "Hey! Hey, Liv! That better not be you!"

The chick on the sidewalk dressed like a mad scientist stopped and looked at my car, and it was definitely fuckin' Liv. She confirmed that by walking over and hiccuping at me, followed by a short dude in a rubber Frankenstein mask. "I'm not Li–*IC*–iv, I'm Victor Frankenst---stein. Meet my son Adam. *hup* He killed my wife."

"Bullshit! Uh—" I looked at the rubber mask that stared back at me. "Bull...crap I mean. What are you doing? You said you never go out on Halloween!"

"No, I said I'd ne–*up* never be avail–*ic*–able. Different things. *hmk* Hi Kiran." Kiki was super flushed and flustered looking and had her hands over her mouth, keeping her hiccups almost totally quiet (kinda impressive, with how loud they were for most of the ride). Liv waved at her and she pulled one hand away to rapidly wave back. "I don't want to go *hup* to parties or haunted pla–*uck*–aces, I want to go trick-or-tre–*heek*–eating."

"Bro, you should have fuckin' said that! I'd totally go with—" I realized I'd just sworn again and bit my tongue. "...okay, yeah actually, I can see why I'm not invited. Anyway, who's the runt? Little cousin or something?"

Liv smiled widely. "My secret weapon. The re–*heek* reason I can still do this."

"Wait a minute..." I reached out and grabbed Frank's rubber face. His hands immediately went up to grab at my wrist, but I was still able to yank the head off, and underneath was Susie, her face bright red and her hair a staticky mess. "HAH!" She grabbed the mask back, but it was too late. I'd seen. And from the way she sat up, I knew Kiki'd seen too. "So this is why you wouldn't come with us, huh? Scamming for candy?"

"We started doing thi–*ic* this back in high school." Liv's face was flat again, but she sounded happy as fuck, and I would be too. "If Susanna's going to stay *hmk* this short, no reason not to get some use out of it."

"You say that like I have a fucking choice." Her voice sounded so stupid inside of that mask.

I was just barely keeping myself from completely laughing my ass off. "Haah...hhaaah. Okay, I get why you were busy now. Liv's not gonna let you have the night off, is she?"

"It's not like she does–*nnk* doesn't get half the candy." Liv shrugged.

"Fuckin' amazing." I sighed. But hey, since I had everyone here... "I think you still missed out though. I'd totally give up candy to get to see Kiki all scared and hiccupy like I did tonight."

Kiki yelped, then hiccuped completely out loud for the first time since I'd parked here, and I grinned. I grinned more at how I could feel Susie glaring at me even through her frankenface. "Oh, you have the hi–*ic*–ccups too. I thought you might." Liv poked her head in. "I've ha–*hup* had mine on and off *ulp* all day. Did you ca–*hup* catch yours at the corn maze?" Kiki nodded and hiccuped out a tiny "sorry". "I don't know wha–*hup* what you're apologizing for." Liv shrugged. "Anyway. *hmk* Adam and I have more houses to hi–*ic* hit. This gave me a nice longer brea–*uck* break from having to stifle th---though. Can't look dru–*hup* drunk while I'm trick or tre–*eat*–ing. So thanks for that. Bye, Maya. *hmk* Bye, Kiran."

"Later, doc!" I let myself laugh harder now, even though it hurt my throat.

Liv started walking away, but Susie actually held back, and after a second she moved over and knocked on the back window. Kiki glanced at me and I shrugged, so she rolled it down, hand over her mouth and still looking way too embarrassed. "Hey." Susie's low, muffled voice came out through the rubber. "I'll give you five dollars if you hiccup again."

Aww, she wasn't weird about saying the word this time. Damn. And the mask was totally hiding her super blushy face. Double damn. Kiki was just confused as she stared out at her. "I...what? S-Susan, that's...kind of you? But I absolutely don't need any monetary help, I..." She paused and moved her hand down to her chest. "I...oh! I-I think they're gone!"

"Good, 'cause I don't actually have five dollars. Later, Kiran." That was all Susie said before she walked off after Liv. Dammit, she managed to pull off looking kinda cool while dressed like fucking Frankenstien. That bitch had no idea what kind of rizz she was lugging around. Heartbreaking. 

"Huh." Rizz or not, I smiled back at Kiki. "Well ain't she chivalrous! Gettin' candy for a ladyfriend and saving you from those dastardly hiccups!"

"I...have no idea how that worked." Kiki was still sort of touching her chest, and I wondered if she knew how fucking cute she looked.

"How come you were trying to hide it? Just feelin' shy?"

"Um, probably yes, but..." she looked down and pushed her hands into her lap. "I was more concerned that Olivia would think that I was, um...mocking her?"

"...babe, definitely nobody thinks that. And if she did think that, she'd ask, and then she'd listen to you when you said no."

"Why has Susan never used that trick on Olivia? It was...shockingly effective on me."

I pulled the car back into drive and headed off again. "Nothin' cures Liv. And Susie knows that. Liv's been like this forever, so she's heard 'em all." After a moment, I snorted. "Well, one thing kinda cures her, but it ain't that." I saw Kiki tilt her head in the back. "Nah, can't get into specifics. You'll probably find out sometime though."

"I see." Kiki rubbed her chest again. "Having the hiccups is more physically tiring than I realized. I suppose it makes sense that Olivia has as much endurance as she does."

"Yeah, Liv's a tough bitch. There's a reason she's a first-stringer on the team, and it ain't just for her fast, long-ass legs." What was left of the ride was still pretty chill, and I pulled up next to Kiki's house after just a few minutes. "And welcome home, Nurse Hottie. You want me to walk you in?"

Kiki shook her head and got out, but she still hovered next to the window. "No. But...thank you so much, Maya. I really really had fun."

I grinned. "Good! You deserve to, Keeks!"

Hearing her giggle made me so fucking happy. She didn't start walking to her door right away, though, rocking back and forth on her feet instead. "Um, Maya? I...I don't want to assume anything, and—and you can say no if you want to! I-I'm not sure I should even ask, but I was, um, I just—"

"Hon, spit it out, I won't be offe—"

"Maya, can I please kiss you?!"

God damn. Kiki's face was so fucking red after she yelled that. I wondered if mine was too. I was pale as fuck, so I blushed pretty easy. My jaw had definitely dropped either way, but it only took a second for me to start smiling instead of gawking. "Fuck yeah, you can kiss me, Kiki! Go for it!"

She closed her eyes, opened them again, closed them, opened them, wriggled, flapped her hands, bent down, got up, bent down, and I was starting to think that I might have to give up on this when she suddenly grabbed my face with both hands and smooched me. Her lips were all fishy and weird. She was gripping my face too hard. And she pulled back after barely a second, leaving me kinda spitty. "Ah! A-ah..." her hands were flapping again. "I-I'm sorry, I should have—*HIC!*" My jaw definitely dropped again. Kiki's did too, but only for a second before she covered her mouth with her fists. "*HICCUP!*"

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. I made sure I grabbed her hand so she wouldn't get away, though. "Kiki, you're so goddamn cute, what the fuck!" I forced it out between my laughs, then got up out of the car so I could hug her. She whined and hid her face in my shoulder, and I stood on my toes to make that easier for her. I rubbed and patted her back and she hiccuped against me. "You're so fucking cute. Scared yourself into the hiccups again just 'cause you kissed a hot girl." I couldn't help but sigh like a fucking doofus. "...hey." I dropped back down and looked up at her, making sure I was still smiling. "Maybe getting kissed by a cute girl'll get rid of 'em. Wanna try it?" After a few hiccups, she nodded quickly, and I held her face and pulled her into another kiss. I'd gotten pretty good at kissing people with the hiccups over the past year, so I was able to keep her head mostly in place with just a hand on her cheek. When I pulled back, she was still hiccuping, but she actually looked me in the eyes for a split second without looking scared by it. "Awww. Still got 'em. Wanna try again?"

After a few long moments, Kiki shook her head. "N-no. *HEEK* N-not because I di–*IC* didn't like it! I just–*HEEKUP!* Ah!"

"I getcha. Just had enough for one night?" She pulled in on herself and nodded. "Alright. You did great, Keeks. Get some good rest. See you tomorrow?" She nodded again and smiled at me. She wasn't good at smiling on purpose, but I could still tell she meant it.

I still had parties ahead of me that night, but even if every single one of them was complete ass, it'd still probably be the best Halloween ever.

...

Disloyal Ho: Hey Keeks! Its Maya!

Kiran (Kiki): (Thank you for making that clear)

Disloyal Ho: (np) I was thinkin about butch seducing and I got a great idea

Kiran (Kiki): Oh? What is it?

Disloyal Ho: I totes hear the exclamation point that thosed actually have next to em if you said em out loud. But anyway I got two questions for you now 1. Do you remember our halloween date last month? And 2. How do you feel about scary movies? Cause I think youll like em a lot better after this.

[pickledpascal]

Hold Me Like Water

Chapter Eleven: Yellow And Blue Are Complementary Colors

Warnings: tasteful nudity (kinda), sexual themes, alcohol consumption, demisexuality, a bit of dysphoria if you squint

Word Count: 2.6k

Hold Me Like Water Masterlist

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July 2024,

Maya thought she reacted normally when Hugh confessed his love for her. Apparently not. Sakari could notice even the smallest of differences from miles away. Sometimes she was kind enough not to point it out.

However, most times she was not. 

“Hugh texted me saying you should wear black to the Deadpool and Wolverine premiere,” Sakari looked down at her phone as she went to sit on the couch next to Maya who was reading a script. “You wanna tell me anything about that or…?” 

Maya pursed her lips. She shielded her face from Sakari's view with her book. She knew her cheeks were burning. She then sighed and set the novel down. Her sister would find out one way or another, it was better that she learned it from her mouth rather than anyone else's. 

“He invited me as his date.” She stared at her lap.

Sakari didn't say anything for a while. Then her lips curled into a smirk. “His date?” 

Maya and Hugh have gone to movie premieres together, as each other's plus one. As a friend. As a date was a different thing entirely. 

“Don't say anything.” Maya grumbled, shaking her head.

“I wasn't. I was just wondering if you've kissed already or not.” Sakari said nonchalantly. There was a pause. “You have!” She lifted a hand to her mouth. “Oh my god, I have to tell Arlo.”

Maya blinked, eyebrows furrowed. “What? Why?” 

“Because they also thought you were both in love with each other but too stupid to admit it.” Sakari said, motioning with her hands as if she were describing a weather pattern. 

Maya's eyes widened. Maybe she was a bit too obvious at times, but she thought she had it under wraps. 

She might have been in love with Hugh for a while but that didn't mean she wasn't plenty satisfied just being his friend. Or that could've just been a lie she told herself to feel better. She didn't know at this point anymore. She was just happy—ecstatic—that they were together now. 

Sakari quickly texted Arlo then looked up at Maya. “We have to get you something hot.” She hummed, pursing her lips as her eyes roamed over her sister. 

Maya rolled her eyes. “I thought I always looked hot.” 

“You do! We just need to get something that'll knock his socks off. That's what I mean.” Sakari backpedaled slightly. She rubbed at her chin, lost in thought. “It sucks that this is so last-minute…” 

“I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out.” Maya had seen her sister throw something together when one of her outfits fell through and it ended up looking a lot better than what she was originally going to wear. Sakari was a bit of a miracle worker under pressure. 

And figure out something she did. 

“Isn't this a little… risqué?” Maya was trying on the dress Sakari picked an hour before the premiere. It arrived later than she expected but not late. 

Sakari shook her head. “You look great! That's all that matters. And I'm sure Hugh wouldn't mind.” She wanted Maya to feel as comfortable as possible and, well, yes this was one of the most revealing things she'd ever had her wear. 

It was a black lace off-the-shoulder dress, sheer enough to show off her skin underneath with decals placed throughout. Two just so happened to be on her breasts. Maya didn't think she had shown this much skin ever even if she was technically still covered. 

Maya looked in the mirror again, scratching at her arm a moment. She did look good—hot—with her hair slightly curled, sections of it braided and pinned back while her makeup was impeccable, as always, with winged eyeliner and wine-stained lips. She had a few necklaces draped over her collarbone and beaded earrings that matched. 

“Just give me the shoes before I change my mind.” Maya grumbled. 

“Wonderful!” A smile broke out into Sakari's lips as she went to grab the shoes for Maya. They were a simple, short pair of black heels with a red bottom. 

As Maya arrived at the red carpet for the premiere, she adjusted the neckline of her dress. She didn't want to accidentally flash someone. Arlo and Sakari were with her in the car as part of her team. Arlo looked dashing in a suit while Sakari wore a simple, normal black dress with a blazer over it. 

“Don't fiddle with it too much or you will flash a tit.” Arlo chuckled, answering a few texts. 

“Shut up.” Maya huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. 

It was hard to deny that she was well-endowed. Hormones did wonders. However, she had a hard time finding bras that fit over her chest and felt comfortable around her shoulders. She usually opted for sports bras if she could help it. But now her chest was free. For the most part. The dress she wore was tight. 

Sakari and Arlo got out of the car first before Arlo helped Maya out. Immediately, cameras were on her. Flashes after flashes as she plastered a smile on her face while she waved at the cameramen. 

Arlo pressed a kiss to Maya's cheek, resting a hand on her back for a moment before they gave her an encouraging smile and went over to where Sakari was. 

One thing not many people realized was that celebrities didn't just go to red carpets. Not by themselves. They always had at least one personal assistant that helped make sure a train wasn't stuck somewhere or did some quick adjustments between shots. It was an entire ordeal. 

Maya was lucky she had Arlo. They've gone to nearly every red carpet with her and Sakari. It was nice to have a friend like them. And an agent. 

As she walked the carpet and posed for pictures, she noticed Hugh all the way on the other side of the carpet. He wore an all black ensemble, though he didn't wear a tie and had the first few buttons of his shirt undone. He looked handsome. He was answering some questions and seemingly hadn't noticed her yet. 

Maya was glad. Her brain was still going a million miles a minute and she wasn't sure she could handle his reaction. But she couldn't change now. She smiled widely, waving to a few fans who were very excited by her presence. 

“Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?” She hadn't even noticed Ryan walking up to her. 

Maya's eyes brightened when she saw him. She laughed softly, “Isn’t your wife here?” She held his hands.

“Yes, well, I think she'll understand. She's very open-minded.” Ryan teased, squeezing her hands as his eyes roamed over her body. 

She laughed again, shaking her head. “I'm sure she is.” Maya had met Blake only a few times, she seemed nice enough. 

She was glad she was used to the presence of cameras by now or else trying to have a conversation on the carpet would be the last thing she wanted to do. Every single thing she did would be documented no matter what she wanted. 

Ryan and Maya posed for a few pictures together. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder while he wrapped an arm around her waist. Part of the reason she chose his shoulder was because she was taller and it was an easier place to reach. 

As Maya walked further down the carpet, she noticed Hugh staring at her. His eyes reflected the flashes from the camera, creating little stars in them. He approached her and the sparkles didn't go away. She felt like she couldn't breathe. He immediately pulled her close by her waist, pressing a kiss to her cheek. Friendly to the masses still but it held so much more. 

“You look absolutely divine.” Hugh whispered in her ear, warm breath tickled her ear. 

Maya had the urge to kiss him but refrained. Slow down, she needed to remind herself of that. Not that she would ever tear off Hugh's clothes since she never felt the urge, but she needed to remember to keep this relationship to themselves for a while. Keep it away from the public. 

People came up with the silliest of rumors and gossip and she knew it would be nice to not feed them for a while. Some of her other friends in the industry liked the peace and quiet it gave them to keep things secret. 

That didn't mean Maya would never say Hugh was hers, but it meant it might take some time. Although, she didn't think of Hugh as hers. Not hers as a toothbrush or a shirt would be. Hers as a plant would be. Something she would tend to or care for. He didn't belong to her, he belonged with her. 

They posed for a few pictures together. She squeezed one of his hands and smiled brightly at him. “I'll see you in there, hm?” He probably had a few more interviews he needed to do before he went into the theater.

“Your seat is next to mine so I'd hope so.” Hugh whispered, a dreamy look in his eyes as he stared at Maya. 

She chuckled and nodded at him. She left his side to enter the theater. She quickly found Sakari and Arlo again. They were chatting. 

“The dress was a win, I’m assuming.” Sakari teased her while they found their seats. 

“I'd say so.” Arlo snickered.

Maya punched Sakari's arm. “Don't even.” She let out a huff of air through her nose. 

“You're lucky I'm your sister.” She smirked, rubbing where Maya punched her. “I mean, come on, he looked like he wanted to propose to you!” 

Maya sat down, adjusting her skirt. She pressed her knees together. She tucked just to smooth out the fabric of the dress as Sakari instructed but it was not the most comfortable while she was sitting. 

“He did not.” Maya protested. Maybe that was a bit of a lie. He looked utterly enamored by her. 

Sakari was about to continue before Hugh found his seat next to Maya, promptly causing her to shut her mouth. Though, she smirked at her sister. 

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look in that dress?” Hugh breathed, eyes roaming over her form again.

Maya flushed, absentmindedly fiddling with the rings adorning her fingers. “Yes, you did.” 

Hugh set a hand on top of hers. “Would you mind if I tell you again?” 

Maya laughed nervously, staring down at their joined hands. Somehow, her mind came up with the idea they looked perfect together. Like they fit together.

“I'm glad you're here.” He whispered, pecking her cheek. 

She looked at Hugh and nodded. “I'm glad too.” 

Soon, the theater lights dimmed and the film began to play. Maya didn't get the entire script since her role was minimal so a lot of the movie was a surprise to her. She let out a chuckle for most jokes and, unlike most, had a feeling Chris Evans was playing Johnny Storm rather than Captain America when he appeared. And she didn't even know he would be in the film. 

When Sedna appeared, there was a roar of cheers. A thrill of excitement went down Maya's spine and her chest swelled with pride that she was able to elicit such a reaction. Hugh squeezed her hand and smiled at her. He was proud as well. 

Maya started to feel more pride for Hugh during one of Logan's scenes. It was such an emotional performance and one of the rare moments the entire theater was quiet. That and the monologue in the Honda Odyssey had to be her favorite. 

Then, as the film reached its end, as was tradition for any film the Wolverine was in, Hugh’s shirt was obliterated into a million pieces as he saved the universe and plenty of others. Maya was no better than any other fan. Her mouth dropped open in shock. She had seen the work Hugh put in to get his body back into Wolverine shape, hell, she'd trained with him a few times during filming. But she had never seen it like this. With his shirt off and dehydrated so his abdomen looked more carved than it would be naturally. 

Maya covered her mouth, remembering she wasn't alone and was sitting right next to Hugh. She spared a glance at him and saw him smirking at her. 

The film ended and the theater erupted into applause. Shawn, Ryan, and Hugh went down to the front to bask in their glory for a few minutes. Maya stood up with the rest of the audience and smiled widely as she watched them. 

Hugh and Maya left together for her apartment. Thankfully, she didn't think the paparazzi would think anything of it since they went to each other's apartments all the time. Sakari went out for drinks with Arlo to give them some time alone which she was grateful for. 

Maya went to grab some wine from the fridge, pouring out two glasses as Hugh pressed against her back and wrapped his arms around her waist. “You are so beautiful. Stunning, really.” He murmured, brushing her hair off to the side so he could plant kisses on her neck. 

She felt goosebumps rise on her skin as he touched her. She turned in his arms and offered him a glass. “No need to repeat yourself.” She said lightheartedly. 

Hugh took a large gulp of wine before he put the glass back down, lifting a hand to cup her chin. “I don't think you understand,” He murmured, “I’ll keep saying it until you tell me to shut up. Maybe not even then.” 

Maya felt a pang in her chest though it wasn't an unpleasant one. He was so sincere that it made her heart ache. But she was scared and nervous. She had never felt so deeply for someone. Even then, she wasn't sure about intimacy. Not yet.

“Hugh, I—” She took a breath. He waited patiently. “I don't think it's a good idea for us to have sex yet.” Maya finally said. 

Hugh’s hand on her waist adjusted slightly to be higher. “Okay.” His eyes roamed her face. 

He didn't recoil or overreact and that was… surprising. Maya knew Hugh wouldn't. He was her friend and knew that she wasn't going to rush into anything no matter who it was with, yet saying it out loud to him made her nervous. She wanted to explore their romantic relationship a little more before they shared that side of each other, before she shared that side of her. 

Hugh lifted his hands to cup her face. He had a feeling about what was on her mind. “You know I don't give a shit what's in your pants, right?” He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “I love you, Maya. Fuck, I admire how open you are.” 

Maya breathed deeply. He was telling the truth. Damn, she could tell he was telling the truth. “I know.” She nodded. 

Usually, she was very comfortable with herself. Comfortable with her identity. Her family didn't care. Her friends didn't either. Her entire village too. But, outside of that, when looking for partners, she was self-conscious. She couldn't explain why. 

Hugh kissed her, pressing himself closer as he wrapped his arms around her neck. She rested her hands on his waist. He tasted like the wine he sipped on and smelled like he always did—that mixture of wood, nutmeg, and citrus—and it reminded her of home. Something about it was natural and warm yet sweet and crisp. 

“Stay the night with me?” She breathed as she pulled away, clutching onto his shirt. The material was soft against her fingers.

Hugh chuckled, brushing their noses against each other. “I thought you'd never ask.”